Past Nightmares
by Zoe Welling
Summary: When three men come knocking on Allie's door, she doesn't expect to be pulled into their whirlwind of trouble. Nor does she expect that between beating time and battling the most feared mutants, she'd meet Peter Maximoff.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

 _Author's Note: Heyyyyy thereeeee, thanks for clicking on this story and checking it out! I've worked extremely hard on this for like… four years? Or something like that, but posting Past Nightmares only came about recently. So it's very safe to say this is all a work in progress. And if you're seeing this note, then that means that you're reading the revamped, edited version of this very first chapter. If you have already read through chapter one and you're just back to see how things were in the beginning, welcome back! I literally was near jumping off my roof when I did a read through of these starting chapters and HAD to fix it._

 _So uh, I just sorta went through, got rid of the excess commas/periods and the other bullshit details that made reading the paragraphs such a boring mess. As well as adding a couple other details here and there, not much has changed in regards to the actual story line; it's definitely all gonna be relatively the same… just somewhat better. Or maybe it's still shit and I'm just doing this for my own health._

 _Either which way, I really do hope you enjoy this long ass story._

"I think this is it..." Logan muttered to himself while peering out the car window, discovering a shabbily painted house outside their rental car. Out front of the home was an orange Volkswagen buggy sitting within the gravel driveway, appearing to have seen better days. And at the sight of it's rusted exterior, familiarity flared in the man's chest; he definitely knew that damned car, rusted or not, the license plate reading "Velma" was a dead giveaway. The thing was always parked in front of the Professor's future school in the most crooked fashion, making half the mansion's population complain about it's existence.

Sitting there quietly in remembrance, Logan couldn't help but smile at the memories that- technically- had yet to be created.

"Why in the hell… would you bring us to this dump?" Charles asked from beside Logan, wearing a grimace upon his face while ducking slightly to see the home better. The window offered no help in shielding the sun as he tried to gauge the house's character, though he _could_ tell it looked like whoever lived in the atrocity needed to do some major renovating. And that just accounted for the damn yard.

The bushes were obviously overgrown and crawling past the dusted windows in a state of rebellion. And the gravel from the driveway was littered all over the place, strewn through the grass, on the sidewalk and all the way out into the road. To top the introductory sight off, that disgusting hazard of a car was parked diagonally in the driveway. Overall, to Charles the estate simply looked like a lazy failure, judging by how petite it was and how little grooming would be required to fix it up properly.

"Looks better than your dilapidated school if you ask me," Logan said as he stepped out of the car, booted feet crunching on the scattered gravel. He wasn't very much interested in caring about the Professor's reaction to his mildly offensive statement, inflicting harsh judgment on his pride and joy of a school. While stumbling out of the backseat of the rental, Hank merely made a face at Logan's comment, though made no mention to defend the Professor. The Wolverine wasn't exactly wrong in his stoic claim.

Perhaps it was due to it's owner's newly developed deadpanned personality, or the guilt of utilizing his legs after so long- maybe both, but the mansion was of no spirit. And unfortunately it reflected Charles' newly adopted behavior, that of which Logan couldn't comprehend. The Professor was somewhat of a hypocrite, having a strangely anti- mutant mindset when it came to the idea of schooling them. It was like he couldn't bear the thought of helping others, because really… he couldn't even help himself.

In a way, it sort of angered Logan, because Charles was someone he had looked up to for so long but now, in the 1973 reality, that feeling had dimmed. But he was going to make that change, one way or another; he had too, since Logan needed the man's help to persuade Raven from her future threatening mistake. But in the mean time, before shit would go done, the man from the future would need to keep reminding himself of 'peaceful thoughts,' as Kitty had informed him before the descent into the past.

It was the only thing keeping him sane anymore.

So, as the trio approached the front door of the home, it was apparent that there was music playing from within. It was loud enough for Logan to recognize the dazed sound of Badfinger, Day After Day's short piano solo making itself heard to all in their party. Again came that nostalgic sense from the futuristic man, feeling like he was living a dream in that moment- nothing really felt real. In fact, he almost felt sick to the stomach, having been so used to terror and pushing to survive on a day to day basis. But there it was all fine, for the most part at least. Everyone just lived together in the way that he had almost forgotten about, really.

While Logan absently pondered over his setting, Hank took the initiative and knocked on the front door; he wasn't really sure what they were doing there, but the Beast figured Logan probably wanted to meet whoever was inside.

"Hold on!" A small voice yelled over the climaxing music, making the Beast wonder who could possibly be loud enough to break through the radio within. Before the song could reach it's end, it was suddenly shut off, though there was still a chorus of strange knocks coming from behind the door. It sounded as if whoever was inside was having quite the struggle, much to their confused entertainment.

Eventually, after another minute of waiting around awkwardly, the red painted door swung open violently. And there, standing even more awkwardly in the door, was a short blonde girl with the most questioning face they'd ever seen.

But that was the girl that Logan had been looking for… it really was her. From the cream Beach Boys shirt to the denim skirt and to the busted up tennis shoes, it all screamed-

"Can I help you guys?" The girl asked, pushing back the mound of snowy blonde hair that ended up on her shoulder. Logan snorted at seeing his friend so young and still sporting her favorite band through fashion. Anytime the Beach Boys were made fun of in the X-Mansion, you could bet your ass that she'd start an argument. Hell, half the time kids would throw the Beach Boys under the bus just to see her get mad.

"Jesus, you haven't changed one bit…" Logan chuckled as he was rushed with old memories of them doing ridiculous, childish things all in the name of fun. Everything from their petty pranks to making breakfast for their friends in the morning, flipping pancakes to the ceiling as a challenge. And he really needed to focus on the severe task at hand, but he couldn't help and reminisce about those good times. Everything was just a little bit better with Allie Gertrude Simmons.

"Are you alright?" Allie asked backing away from the strange group of men slightly, seeming weirded out by their sudden appearance on her doorstep. "Is he okay?" She asked once more, though looked towards Hank, who seemed more warm and welcoming. The young Beast just sort of shrugged and passed the question onto Charles with a short look; Allie turned to the Professor, brows raised whilst Logan attempted to gather his composure.

"No, I am not alright," Logan admitted to the blonde, hand over his forehead as if to shield away her confused glare before dropping it, looking the girl in her dark eyes. "But I am here to make your life more exciting than this," the mutant gestured to the overall scene laid out behind them, from the rusted buggy out front to the young girl's Beach Boys shirt that clearly looked as if it needed a washing. Which, that idea went for the car as well.

Allie's life was definitely less than exciting on first observations.

"Um, okay? Whatcha gonna try to sell me this time?" Allie inquired as if Logan was some pesky salesman, while coming to lean against the door frame with crossed arms. She figured that whatever low budget bullshit he was gonna try to toss into her arms was going to be even _less_ exciting than her life and have no value in raising her spirits about the fact. Allie was just a typical teenage girl trying to fend her way through school while the small annoyances of the 70s bore down onto their neighborhood. Of which one of those annoyances was her dad being a military man and being out somewhere in Vietnam.

Once again, she was a pretty typical teenage girl: lot's of their fathers were off fighting a war that wasn't in the favor of America, but she wouldn't really get into that just yet.

"Look, in all seriousness now, we need your help," Logan began more sincere that time, hoping it dropped the salesman title he'd temporarily been given by the girl. "We know what you are: a mutant," Allie froze and frowned up at the man, clearly perturbed by his correct declaration, as well as the added confidence. But why would he just come out and say it? Furthermore, how did he know?

"How?" She asked simply, though the complete answer would take a bit of time and maybe a decently plush couch with a good coffee in hand to explain.

"Long story short, I know you in the future," Logan stated carefully, dropping the bomb. Allie blinked. Once. Twice. While attempting to mull over the possibilities of him actually being serious, she was only coming up with weird scenarios of being kidnapped by this deranged man. There was no doubt in her mind that he might've been on something strong, but yet he seemed so convinced about his statement. He _had_ to be bullshitting, no doubt, but her interests were piqued anyhow. In a way he was staying true to his word because their current situation was in fact bringing excitement into the newest chapter of Allie's life. So an upside to being kidnapped, maybe?

"Okaaaay, what is it that you need my help for?" The blonde asked, pushing away the future idea in favor for whatever they needed her help with. Perhaps this grand task that brought three men to her doorstep would be simple.

"We need into the Pentagon," Charles said affirmatively, getting straight to the point. He was tired of Logan's small chit chat and beating around the bush with a series of giggles trailing in the caboose. They needed to get their mission finished, as the entire point to it was very urgent under Logan's initial flustering. Xavier didn't know how many days they had to beat Raven, considering she worked alone and extremely focused from one successful blackmail and murder to the next. Their time was not to be wasted on some random blonde in a shitty house.

"What?!" Allie yelped, her eyes wide with surprise. "You seriously want to break into the Pentagon?" Hank nodded behind the two other men. The blonde just stood there, obviously thinking over the pros and cons of the request she found herself with, albeit wondering if they were being frank with her. There was something willing her to go with the men however, as her mutation was picking up some things that had not been disclosed to her… but Allie couldn't help but feel something more. Between the thoughts she'd began to gather and the strange seriousness of the bigger man, the girl came to a mental decision- a most likely extremely dumb decision that might get her in trouble. With a wide smile, Allie backed away and held up a finger, signaling the men to wait for her.

As she ran off into the home, Logan made a face and looked to the other mutants, then nodded slowly, as if saying: 'that was easier than I thought.'

A few moments later Allie came back with a pair of knee high, lace up leather boots instead of her tennis shoes and round lensed glasses planted over her doe eyes. Once more, Logan spotted another item that would carry onto the future. Those sunglasses were iconic.

"Ready," she said stumbling out the front door, passing the three men on her way to the car, still bent over and tying her boot. The trio followed suit and within the minute they were driving off towards their next star mutant: Peter Maximoff.

Logan was interested to see what the quick kid was up to in '73 since he found out what an odd life Allie was living. Listening to her celebrity crushes, the Beach Boys, and being an easily persuaded teenager must've been her grand prime occupation. Which was quite the surprise to him, so he could only imagine if the Maximoff kid was going to be better or worse.

"So, where are we going now? Cause I don't think this is the way to the Pentagon," Allie said, looking out the window, watching as nice houses from the even nicer neighborhood went by. That was where half of the assholes lived, everywhere from the rich PTA parents to their even more rich kids who got whatever they wanted. Hell, the one time Allie wanted to join Tennis, she ended up missing the audition because the PTA parents had their kids pre- selected for the sport. Which resulted in team filled to max capacity, somehow. Like… what's the point?

"We are gonna pick up another kid, a mutant also," Logan answered from the driver's seat. Allie nodded, slightly thankful that there would at least be yet another person to join her on the trip.

"Cool. So, uh, what can you guys do?" Allie asked, turning to the young man with glasses next to her with a curious smile. He looked like some scrawny high schooler; the one that always got shoved into lockers repeatedly by the socially required jocks. Almost like Allie's everyday routine, what a coincidence. Then there was the man with longer hair in the passenger seat who seemed like he belonged behind the desk serving the teacher's purpose. Although the type that would hide a flask in their drawer, right beside tons of ungraded essays.

Then there was the big guy. The one that seemed kinda like an alleyway fighter in some sense; the one which always had the winning bet from the audience. It was definitely a strange group and Allie wouldn't have guessed they'd be traveling together, let alone 'breaking' into the Pentagon.

 _I mean, if that is actually what we are doing right now. Shit… maybe I am actually getting kidnapped,_ Allie wondered to herself. Or maybe they were gonna break into the Pentagon, which, in a way, seemed even more dangerous then being held hostage. Yeah well, that was her luck.

But, she countered within her mind, she still wanted to get to the bottom of how they knew she was a mutant. Because something told her that it wasn't just a guess, prophesied by whatever 'life excitement' God they'd looked up to that day.

"What do you mean?" Charles questioned the girl. What made her guess correctly that they were mutants too? Was that why she came with them so easily? He certainly would have been skeptical if he was a young woman, bombarded by three grown men with talk of trespassing into government buildings and time travel. As a matter of fact, he would have probably slammed the door in their faces. Wouldn't be the first time that week...

"Well, I can see that you are mutants in a way. Just not what you can do specifically," she informed them while tapping her temple mysteriously, liking that they were clueless to her capabilities.

"Well before we tell you, why don't you tell us what you can do," Hank compromised curiously. The girl acted more or less like a child and he wanted to really understand why Logan would want to bring her of all mutants to the Pentagon. How threatening was an avid Beach Boys fan going to be?

Allie just peered up at the young man.

"There's a spider on your shoulder."

"WHAT?!" Hank yelled and frantically brushed his shoulder with his hand, eventually tearing off his orange overcoat entirely. In the front seat sat a hysterical Logan, practically crying from laughing so hard. He had seen that girl do the spider trick a thousand times and it never got old.

"Hey bud, there is no spider. You're fine," the girl informed Hank with a light chuckle, as he was breathing hard, slowly reaching to pick up his coat again. He looked wearily at the mutant besides him, as if she would come at him once more. She'd almost threw him into a fit of hyperventilation. In fact, Hank felt a little too familiar with the symptoms of a heart attack in that moment. "I can make people hallucinate their fears."

Charles turned to look at Allie, intrigued by her ability.

"So you're telepathic, that's how you can tell their fears?" The Professor questioned, wanting to understand more about how much she could see into a mind; especially since he could unlock everything that the brain had to offer, but it seemed

"Yes, sort of. I can mostly tell if someone's a mutant if they are afraid of being discovered. That's how I could sense it that you three were different," Allie explained, turning to give Hank an apologetic look.

"And some, well, are just afraid of the normal stuff. Like spiders," the Beast just huffed and turned to look at the diamond pattern clothed headrest in front of him. That was all too embarrassing...

Charles and Logan laughed continuously at seeing their colleague so flustered. Hank, a pretty powerful and strong mutant, was afraid of spiders like no other. Who would've thought?

"So, now are you going to let me in on what you guys are?" Allie asked, waiting for one of them to do something cool. Something that made them look different- like turn into a dragon! Or shit, predict her future? Maybe they could teleport? Craft anything from their own hand? Now all that fun stuff seemed pretty damn exciting.

Allie hadn't openly talked to any other mutants before, although she did feel some of their presences in public. But she never planned on revealing their secrets, nor hers at that. Anything along those lines were risky because she didn't know how people would react to her party trick of a mutation. There was always that fear of being outcasted even more than she already was in a normal, human social setting.

But in the same hand, Allie knew that the men wouldn't do anything of such, trusting that they wouldn't expose her wrongfully. In their case, she could do the exact same to them, so there was a silent but mutual agreement to not pull any of those cards.

No, instead Logan held a hand out and allowed his bone- like claws to escape the soft flesh, revealing themselves to the teenage mutant. Allie's eyes widened and she caught the man's gaze in the rear view mirror. The look on her face told Logan all that he needed to know: that Allie thought his ability was completely bad ass. The natural weapons fell back into their place beneath the mutant's skin as the young girl waited for the next man to show himself off.

"I can read minds," Charles informed the girl, feeling the sting of regret as he realized he would have had the capability to actually say it _inside_ her head, if not for his love of walking. It made the man feel like a lousy mutant, less patriotic about the gift that he should be proud to embrace.

"So you're telepathic. Anything else?"

"I have the strongest mind on the planet if that tells you enough," Charles answered, not feeling it in himself to explain the long list of things he could conduct with his head alone. The young girl would probably gush at all he could accomplish, which he'd be in the mood for if he even had a mood. That day was just… an unsavory one. He'd be meeting Erik shortly after fetching their last helper and it wasn't every day that you'd encounter the person responsible for taking away the simple act of walking.

"Coooool," Allie quipped aloud, thinking of all the possibilities that the man could manipulate with just his consciousness.

"What about you spider guy?" Hank flinched and looked at the young mutant, inching his arm outwards shakily. He slowly allowed his hand to take it's natural blue form, with his vibrant sapphire fur expanding ever so carefully along the top of his knuckles. "Wow-"

The car jerked into a neatly paved driveway recklessly, throwing both Allie and Hank into the seats in front of them; that was one way to interrupt someone. He quickly helped her back to a more formal state but took no time in throwing open his own car door with a haste. Due to his lingering anxiety, Hank would avoid spider tricks like the plague for a while, as another near panic attack was not on his agenda for that day.

"We're here," Logan announced, stepping out of the car. Allie hopped out as well, admiring the house they had pulled up to, wearing a small grin on her face at it's sight. It had a modernly slanted roof and a nice stone exterior that was in a cream/gray monochromatic scheme. Even the bushes formed perfect cubes and the colors were all aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Allie loved homes like this because of how perfect they were, almost as if they were up for sale and weren't even lived in yet.

The mutants approached the front door, in much of the same form as they had when fetching Allie. Except they had a new recruit, happening to be the girl herself.

Logan knocked a few times before an expectant woman answered, looking at them like she'd seen the mutants before.

"What's he done now?" She asked, pulling the door open wide. Allie tried to hide the smile forming on her lips, since it sounded like the woman had quite the handful judging by that greeting. "I can write you a check for anything he took."

A thief? A vandal? Who, her son or husband, brother? Allie tried to figure it out through their next exchange.

"We just need to talk to him," Logan said before the lady could speak more, needing to get straight to Peter because they were on a bit of a time crunch. And thankfully the woman just nodded despite herself and stepped aside, allowing the mutants to walk right on in.

"Peter the cops are here, again!" She yelled to whoever Peter was.

Allie sighed as she looked around the home, seeing how clean cut it was while slowly being led down to the basement. She absently began to survey the underground den, finding that it looked more like an arcade than it did a bedroom. On the walls were countless posters hanging, snacks were stocked high in the corner of the room and there was a complete entertainment system with a nice TV too. Then, there was a ping pong table in the center of it all, being used by one person. Only one, gray haired boy.

Wait, what?

Allie stared on as she witnessed a young man with silver locks of hair speed from one side of the green table to the other, hitting the little white ball each and every time. Peter, she guessed was his name, was playing a clearly team based game, by himself.

Fascinating.

"What do you guys want? I didn't do anything," Peter said between flashes from one side of the table to the other, voice choppy in the act. "I've been here all day," and then the boy was gone in a swift gust of wind, sitting behind the group of mutants on a couch and his hands stretched behind his head. Everyone slowly walked towards him, like one would if approaching a dangerous animal. Though there wasn't really a threat coming from Peter, just the mystery surrounding him.

"Just relax, we're not cops," Logan said.

"Of course you're not cops, or else you wouldn't be driving a rental car- and she looks like she's twelve," Peter pointed out, gesturing to Allie at his latter statement with an index finger. The girl just scoffed at the same time Charles did.

"How'd you know we got a rental car?" The Professor asked, mildly confused and a little bit irritated with how easily the young mutant was toying with them. He was sick of having to deal with people that day, wishing to just get to the Pentagon and maybe give Erik a good slug along the jaw as soon as possible. And some over confident teenager was really dampening his already agitated mood. Sharing that emotion was Allie as well, having thought that she'd gotten over looking like a ten year old boy who hadn't eaten in a week.

"I checked your registration as you were walking through the door. Then I had some time to kill so I went through your rental agreements and saw you were from out of town," Peter explained as Allie scrunched up her face. "Are you the FBI?" The kid asked, knitting his eyebrows together as he zoomed to Charles before promptly snatching his wallet. Standing little ways off, Peter began reading through each of the items contained inside.

"Nope, you're not cops," he confirmed in a mutter. He then pulled out an old card from one of the wallet's sleeves, in which it advertised Charles' school. "Hey, what's with this 'gifted youngsters' place?" Once again, the mutant was gone in a flash, dropping the items on the carpeted floor. Xavier quickly strode to where his things were lying, a twitch in his eye on having to explain his failure.

"That's an… old card," the Professor said as he picked up his belongings, most certainly annoyed as he did so. Hank, however, looked around curiously.

"He's fascinating," the young man mused, speaking of Peter's ability and charisma.

"He's a pain in the ass," Charles sighed, slipping his wallet back where it belonged. And hopefully where it stayed.

"Yeah I'm not twelve," Allie mumbled while crossing her arms, agreeing quickly with the Professor.

"What, a teleporter?" Hank asked Logan, who was standing behind Charles with his hands on his hips. He shook his head.

"No, just fast," Logan said, slowly turning to where Peter sat. "And I knew him when he wasn't so… young." Obviously, the kid was a little wilder than before since he was only what, late teens or early twenties by then? It didn't really matter, Logan wasn't even sure what to expect when he stepped onto the Maximoff's lawn ten minutes ago. But it was easy to predict that the boy would turn out being mischievous just like he was in the later times. If he was being honest, Logan would be stealing out the entire town too if he could get away with it.

"Young? You're just old," Peter stated defiantly, sucking on a popsicle behind the group. Allie jumped, turning to look at the boy who was both annoying her and piquing her interests. Though he was no doubt childish in a sense, it was clear that he would be a good asset to their rag tag team. No one would see him coming, and if they somehow did, he'd be gone before they could catch him.

"So you're not afraid to show your powers," Hank determined. He was surprised at how open Peter was with revealing his abilities, no fear in the fact that they'd open handedly witnessed his mutation in full use. Hank had always tried to keep the Beast at bay, to not let anyone see it unless absolutely necessary, which necessary hadn't been in a long time. After Charles was shot in the back, to be specific.

Hank wished he had the confidence to be as courageous and open with his gift- if that's what you'd call it. All the young man ever did was make hefty serums and potions to veer off his mutation, not enhance or embrace it in any way.

"What powers? What are you talking about?" Peter went on, "do you see something strange here? Nothing anyone would believe if you told them." The boy said smugly, keeping a straight face, making Allie frown at his assumption. Normal people have a tendency to be afraid of what they don't know and if Peter just zoomed all around town, someone would be bound to see something out of the ordinary sooner or later. Even if it was just for a quarter of a second that someone spotted him doing something shifty, it could mean bad news. Plus he wasn't exactly subtle, not with that silver garb and all.

"You should really be more careful," Allie told the mutant sincerely, who was then playing on one of his arcade games, another seemingly questionable item within his room. He caught her gaze in the reflection of the screen, still playing masterfully with his focus elsewhere.

"Nah, I can take care of anyone really," Peter brushed off her caution. Maybe he was too full of himself. Allie decided that was why he wasn't at all wary about being caught, because he didn't believe it could happen at all. That was probably one of the worst mistakes to ever make: to underestimate. Anything is possible...

"So who are you? What do you want?" The speedy mutant asked the others behind himself. Logan sighed.

"We need your help, Peter," the older man said.

"With what?"

"To break into a highly secured facility… and to get someone out," Logan said, slowly easing the proposal onto Peter. The young man needed to know just what he would be getting himself into if he agreed to help, as it wasn't just some light mission. They could get in a lot of trouble if they were discovered and none of them would want to think about the consequences. Breaking into the Pentagon wasn't going to look good for mutants after Erik had already assassinated the President on top of other bullshit.

"Prison break? That's illegal you know," Peter smiled at the mischievous atmosphere that enveloped everyone in the room. He was beginning to enjoy the company of the strangers, since causing trouble was his pastime after all.

"Mm, well, only if you get caught..." Logan reasoned. He could guess that the younger version of Peter was rarely ever witnessed fully of stealing all the pastries around the basement, along with the other pricey items. Allie knew for sure that she was skeptical about the mass amount of gaming systems littering Peter's bedroom. There was no way he just bought them, as that would be too human for the mutant boy.

"What's in it for me?" Peter asked, still playing his Pong game. Charles sighed from behind him, taking off his glasses and wiping at his tired eyes. He just wanted to get the day done and over with as soon as possible. And sitting there bargaining with the boy who could rob a bank with ease, was not on his to do list.

"You, you kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon," with those words, Peter paused and slowly turned around in surprise, the statement forcing him to abandon his precious game. The… Pentagon? Did he hear that right?

"How do I know I can trust you?" He asked in all seriousness for the first time in his encounter with the others. Even though Peter had ruled out the strangers connections to the police, he never really had figured out who the group was or why they came to him- aside from the slightly outrageous proposal of 'breaking into the Pentagon,' which was sketchy in it's own.

"Cause we're just like you," Logan said, glancing over at Charles.

"Show him," was all the Professor had to say. Logan nodded and held his hand over his chest, allowing his claws to once again protrude from their confinements beneath his flesh and be shown off to Peter who was sitting yet, though with wide eyes now. He looked up at Logan, tearing his eyes away from the intriguingly gory sight.

"It's cool but it's gross," he admitted with a small cringe on his face as he changed focuses, the young mutant turning to Allie. "Hey, what can you do toddler?"

Allie just smiled coolly, mulling over all the little things that Peter feared most, much like looking at a ranked list on a clipboard until she came across something he was almost stupidly afraid of. Something that would get a great reaction out of him.

"I think there is something wrong with your game..." Allie observed only the image herself and Peter could see: the little nightmare that was playing for only him. The young mutant turned to grasp the playing stick when he found that there was no longer a picture displayed on the screen, just darkness. Then suddenly wires spewed out from the door on the lower part of the system, mound of red, black and blue curling onto the carpet. Allie showed him a big sparking and heaping wired mess scattered on the ground, tangling with his feet.

"Agh! What did you do to my game?!" Peter cried as the other three men stared, puzzled at what he was yelling at until they realized the blonde mutant was orchestrating another one of her fearful tricks. The boy kicked away the imaginary wires and scooted backwards from the pile. Feeling that the punishment was enough, the girl ended the tragedy.

"Nothing Peter, it's all in your head," Allie slurred, pushing herself off one of the wooden posts in the basement and walking up the steps, feeling very fulfilled inside.

Down in his manhole stood Peter yet, frowning at where the mass amount of wires used to be. They were no longer lying dead there, just a few crumbs occupying the space from him eating as he played. The young mutant frowned even further at the observation, pushing the leftover cake underneath the system, pretending that they disappeared and hoping no ants decided to pay him a visit.

"Did she literally just do that?" He asked the other three men, turning around with mixed feelings on the girl. Logan nodded with a knowing smirk. Peter would learn about the fun soon enough.

"Better get used to it, kid." Peter rolled his eyes with a groan and went to retrieve his things.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"So, uh, the Beach Boys..." Peter trailed, sitting tightly next to Allie, who was forced to stay between Hank and himself the whole ride to the Pentagon; Logan and Charles both graciously took the front seats again. And the only conversations they really had were about the fairly simple plan to break out Magneto, or Erik, as they less formally called him. The rest of the time was spent in an uncomfortable silence, the party absently peering out their windows to avoid any awkward confrontations. Only then had someone actually bring up something regarding less violent and dangerous matters. Of course, it was just Peter picking up a casual chat about music.

"Erm, yeah… Pink Floyd," Allie replied, taking a quick glance at the other mutant's shirt while nodding uncomfortably. She hadn't exactly planned for the trip to turn out as cringy as it did, but somehow that's just how the situation unfolded. And as much as Allie wished to spend the ride in silence, Peter pushed further into the conversation, believing that he could eventually break the thick ice.

"So, you can make video games crash," he hummed, frowning at the memory. The girl next to him shook her head with a breathy laugh. No one had told him what she really did then. Guess the other three men were just going to allow Allie herself to explain her mutations.

"Not exactly, I just make people see things they're afraid of," the blonde explained, secretly projecting a small spider onto an unsuspecting Hank's hand. She winked at Peter and waited for the beast to make mention of the creepy crawly. Within a few moments, Hank finally felt the tickle of the imagined spider's long legs and sighed.

"Really?" He muttered tiredly, having heard the last of her previous statement. "I think the first time was enough," the mutant said, holding up his hand to Allie's view. She acted as though she just noticed the insect, and backed away slightly out of mock fear. Hank's eyes narrowed at the action.

"That's not me," and that was all the man needed to hear before he went a little white and violently slammed his hand on the headrest in front of him. Just so Allie wouldn't get in trouble for pulling more tricks, she visioned a smashed spider on the back of Hank's then red and cloth burned hand. It looked as though it was a real squashed bug.

Beside Allie, Peter fought to hide the smile forming on his lips, and turned to look out the window casually.

"Jesus, Hank, that was my head," Charles moaned as he sat away from his seat. The arachnophobic muttered an apology and sat back with his head flush against the window, absent-mindedly rubbing the back of his hand onto his jeans to get rid of the imagined spider guts.

Allie just smiled to herself and laid back to get some rest, feeling tiredness pull at her. She couldn't help but leave her eyelids to fall shut, last thing she heard being Charles complaining about Hank's outburst.

 _Half an hour later..._

"Ugh, where are we," Allie asked as she groggily opened her eyes, narrowly stretching her arms out towards the front seat in an attempt to pop her elbows (which was something that she'd often do at home, causing her mother to cry out in disgust on many occasions, so she only hoped no one in the car had a problem with it). Unsatisfyingly enough, nothing close to cracking occurred other than her neck aching from leaning awkwardly onto… what was that?

"Drooling on my shoulder is where you are," Peter said from above the blonde, grinning humorously down at her. With red cheeks, Allie sat up quickly and wiped at her mouth, feeling the telltale wetness of saliva on the palms of her hands. Of course she decided to just smother her spit all over a _guy's_ jacket- one she just met at that. She probably looked like a massive, disgusting idiot. "Well, I didn't tell you to stop..." The other mutant whined jokingly as the warmth of the girl left his shoulder.

Allie chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure all that drool was really making your day, huh?" She said, turning to the gray haired boy. He had a smirk on his face as he nodded dramatically, like an excited child would if saying yes to candy. She shook her head and looked past him, out the window. The group was coming up close to a large building, and it didn't take long for the young girl to know just what it was:

The Pentagon.

The closer their ascent to the building became, the sooner Allie realized just how nervous she was... and how serious the men actually were. She was going to be breaking into the Pentagon. The five-sided shape itself. Which was extremely illegal and would get the five of them in major trouble if they were caught, perhaps even a worse punishment considering they were mutants. A normal jail cell wouldn't prevent their abilities from being used, which obviously the humans had thought that far, as Magneto had been contained. So in the situation of their arrest, the five of them wouldn't stand any chance of escape unless they were going to hurt people. Which, Allie would really rather not do.

"Ohhh mannn, I'm so excited," Peter boasted from beside Allie, squirming in his seat as he pressed his face against the window. How was he any bit excited? Yeah, he was already criminally active but it couldn't have compared to breaking into a highly secured military facility. Though he would probably end up being the last one arrested if they did in fact reach an abrupt end in their 'mission.' So he was better off in some sense, even though, for some odd reason, Allie trusted him enough to know he wouldn't abandon them.

"Aren't you nervous?" The blonde asked, worry written all over her face. Peter turned to her, a lopsided grin fixed to his expression.

"Nah, and don't worry. You and me are together to get Erik. I'll just speed us out of trouble," the boy reassured her, with a small pat on the girl's shoulder. "And I know toddlers can't fend for themselves," Peter chuckled, watching as she narrowed her eyes. It wasn't even that funny.

"Wanna bet?" Allie asked, causing the gray haired boy to roll down his window and attempt to escape out of mock fear. Though Peter quickly zipped back in when he realized there were people watching him crawl through the hatch, making him feel a little bit awkward. He just smiled and waved at their scrunched noses, moving their children quickly along the sidewalks. Guess they weren't expecting that on their Pentagon trip.

"Now that's the way to think kid," Logan said from up front, pulling into a parking space. "Jeez, never thought I'd be doing this," he muttered to himself, thinking about how much security was amped in the future. A random shifty group of mutants walking up to the Pentagon, let alone anywhere, in fact. Never.

"Well, we are doing it," Charles sighed, stepping out of the car. It felt strange to be releasing someone like Erik from where Charles thought he belonged, like any framed criminal was. The Erik he knew was too unstable to be freed from his 'deep down under' cell, but the Professor wanted to help Raven, and nothing else. If it meant breaking out his old friend, then that's just what would need to happen. All he ever wanted to bring his sister back and really, that's all he's ever felt. If he couldn't, they'd have to say goodbye to the mutant race under idea of Logan's future.

"Alright, everyone remembers the plan?" Logan asked, making sure that everyone in the group had the idea straight before they stepped foot inside the Pentagon, because, after that definite action, their plan would be put into play. There was no turning back and walking away from the task; it had to be done right then and there and as soon as possible. They didn't have time to do any improvising, just following the strict instructions they had come up with.

The other four mutants nodded wordlessly and began their short travel to the front of the building. As they were walking Peter came up behind Allie, grabbing her neck with one hand as his other arm went around her waist, quite suddenly, Allie realized. The young girl froze, slowly turning to peer up at Peter, straining with the weight of his hand on her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, ready to rip his hands off of her body.

"I'm really itching to get this done and you and me gotta go get Erik, so..." and with that Allie experienced something she never thought she would before. There was a great flash of light and a rough pressure on her eyes, so much so that she was forced to close them, otherwise she felt as if they'd tumble out. But that didn't aid in stopping the extreme rush that she was surrounded by in a harsh- almost violent way. She felt as if her body was being sucked away into some sort of vortex until it was halted sharply.

Allie opened her eyes carefully and saw that she was in an elevator, warped from the way her head spun. If it wasn't for Peter's hands still on her waist, she probably would've fallen over.

"Hold on," he said, gently putting her on the ground and taking the clothes off a man she hadn't even realized was standing in there with the pair. Then the next thing she knew in her haze, she saw the officer very taped against the wall. It looked like Peter use the entire roll on the poor man. From head to toe he was wrapped like a mummy in the elevator corner, plastered straight to the wall to the point where he probably couldn't even move a single inch.

"What the heck was that...?" Allie asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion and nauseation. She felt like her stomach was still doing dizzied flips, being thrown back and forth like a football by sickness itself. "Ughhhh, I feel sick," Peter looked down at her.

"Yeah don't worry, it'll fade. Now sit in that corner so no one sees you," Peter instructed, fixing his hair beneath the hat he obtained from the guard. It was about the only item he'd stolen that was welling fitting, as the uniform he was sporting was far too big and a little itchy, but it would have to do. He couldn't wait to get back into his old gray garb. "Do you still have that piece of paper?"

Allie nodded lethargically and reached into her boot and pulled out a little square parchment in which Peter wrote 'Mind the Glass' on. The elevator doors slid open just as the mutant snuck the note into the food tray and walked out, ready to see who exactly the great metal manipulating Erik Lensherr was.

Meanwhile, Allie just waited patiently, her head in her hands with her knees drawn up to her chest. The sudden whirl of sickness was beginning to fade and the mutant was coming back to her senses, much to her relief. As she sat there, rubbing circles into her knees, the girl realized she was stuck in the elevator until Peter came back, as there were lines of guards just outside the sliding doors. Allie just hoped no one would try and use the lift before her partner returned. That would be a disaster, considering there was an officer duck taped to the wall just on the other side of her position.

Ever so slowly, Allie stood up on her feet, careful not to make too much sound and to keep all her limbs away from the edge of the doorway. They couldn't afford to be caught and Allie especially hoped that if they would, it wouldn't be caused from her doing.

' _Hopefully Peter comes back so-_ ' Her train of thought was cut off.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

An alarm began to go off just as Allie balanced herself onto her feet. That must've meant Peter had gotten Erik out of the cell. Then they would be back soon, considering how fast the young man was.

Beside the girl the elevator doors began to close and Allie went to quickly hold them open when she heard someone yell from down the hall.

"DON'T MOVE!" An officer called before an unknown force flew by Allie's arm and she found that Peter was back… with Erik. The Magneto himself, the blonde mutant observed tentatively. He was still in his reserved cell uniform, and looked to be in the same state she had been in just moments before. The man supported himself against the metallic wall and took a few careful breaths, hunched slightly in a way that was perceived as sickly by the girl. Meanwhile, Peter speedily changed back into his original clothes. Then he looked down and gave Allie a suggestive grin as he fixed his silver jacket back up.

"Sorry, too quick for you to really see all the glory," Peter said, then with a flick of his eyebrows he shuffled backwards towards their new guest. Allie's face grew red as she was at a loss for words. No guy had ever talked to her like that. It was weird.

Peter turned back to Erik, saving Allie from trying to come up with some awkward response to his previous statement.

"You're good, it'll pass," Peter reassured Erik much like he did Allie, sensing that he too was experiencing some form of motion sickness. "You must have done something pretty serious. What'd you do, man? What'd you do? What'd you do? Why'd they have you in there?" Peter babbled on, asking the same variation of the question over and over in a childish manner- or maybe childish was too light... more like annoying. Allie almost expected Erik to completely blow up on the young man for yapping in his ear like that. Probably encase the entire elevator onto Peter's body or something harsh yet ridiculous as such.

"For killing the President," Erik answered as Peter turned to Allie. Her eyes were wide as she looked up to him. ' _Wow, shit_ ,' the gray-haired mutant mouthed to her.

"I really liked Kennedy..." Allie frowned, even though she wasn't very old when the President was around. She had always admired his consideration for others and the charismatic, young side of him. She wished she had known the man personally, or at least had been older during his term. Something told her they would have gotten along politically.

Erik ignored her statement out of the fact that he still felt like the elevator was spinning.

"The only thing I'm guilty of is for fighting for people like us," Erik said, turning slightly towards Peter. There seemed to be a small tremor of annoyance in his voice at addressing his defense. Allie just looked up at the older man. Was killing the President really making mutants look any good? In some way, she supposed, Erik thought it did. Though the young girl couldn't quite see it. Maybe she was too young to understand or just lacked the psycho that Erik surrounded himself in. Allie personally leaned more towards the latter.

"Take karate? You know karate man?" Peter asked the other mutant. What the hell? Allie scrunched up her face at the random questions coming out of the boy's mouth, wondering how he could be mild during the car ride, but now suddenly he was all over the place. She decided that maybe it was just the troublesome atmosphere around them. He seemed to be constantly curious, making Allie come to the conclusion that his mind ran as much as his legs did. At the same exact pace too. It would explain why he went from one topic to the other like a light switch flicking on and off.

"No I don't know karate, but I do know crazy," Erik commented seriously. Peter found his statement humorous and began to laugh behind the man. He turned to Allie.

"This guy's great," Peter told her, pointing at Erik's back. Then he faced Magneto once more. "They told me you can control metal," Allie sighed as he began his whirl of questions and inquiries again.

"They?" Erik asked, wondering who else was working with him exactly while the elevator seemed to be coming to a stop.

"You know, my mom used to know a guy who could do that," Peter informed the other man, skipping straight to his own wonder. Erik didn't say anything, just waited patiently for the doors to open.

When they did, there stood the wet and disheveled Professor, perfectly timed for their sudden arrival.

"Charles?" Erik said, not believing what his eyes were showing him.

As he turned fully and took in the man before himself, Charles instantly slugged Erik in the jaw. Almost as instantaneously, Peter quickly pulled Allie to himself so she wouldn't receive a fallen Magneto on top of her. He didn't let go of her arms in case something more happened, and Allie began to grow red again. What was with all this touching between her and him? Was it a normal thing that she didn't understand?

Charles groaned in pain as he held his still closed fist, trying to walk the ache off in the small space of the elevator. Logan stood behind them, a little surprised to see the Professor do such a reckless thing. When he looked at the younger version of Xavier, he always imagined the soft, old version of him. It was just bewildering to see the man up front, battling Erik with his fist, not his mind.

"Good to see you too old friend," the escapee said from the ground as he cradled his jaw with his hand. "And walking."

"No thanks to you," Charles replied bitterly as he watched Erik get steadily back to his feet.

"You're the last person in the world I expected to see today," the other man mused, looking down at the then stabilized Charles. It was a surprise for Erik to see him standing once more, though probably just some fix of science: the ever evolving grace that granted more and more solutions for them. Perhaps by the mastermind Hank, Erik considered, as he remembered the time with the CIA. He always had a sense around magical serums and potions, even though he failed the first time through and strengthened his own mutation instead of keeping it at bay. A fair punishment if you asked Erik, especially for trying to get Mystique to join him on it. Who knows what her consequence would've looked like.

"Believe me, I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to..." Charles said, making sure he put as much honesty into each word as he could muster. It was the damned truth though. For all he cared, Erik could rot decades more in the confinements of the Pentagon's cell, forged just for him. But the thought of Raven brought him away from that idea. "If we get out of here, we do it my way. No killing."

From back in the elevator, Allie could agree with that. Not that breaking into the Pentagon looked very good, but not killing any of their men would look a little better. Though the men lying behind Logan did seem like they'd need to have a check-up for their heads.

"No helmet," Erik gestured to his bare head. He smiled coolly as he spoke. "I couldn't disobey you even if I wanted." Charles leaned into the man, a slight sneer on his face. Peter instinctively pulled Allie further away and deeper into his chest, unsure if things were going to get heated again. She didn't really notice that time, as she was too focused on the scene before her. Allie had never been exposed to the sheer violence as such before, having lived in a quiet kind of place that didn't experience anything out of order. Because of that, she was almost mesmerized by how both Charles and Erik acted. One calm and collected yet with a dangerous underlayer, while the other openly was angry and upset. Both were wildcards, however.

"I'm never getting inside that head again. I need your word, Erik," Charles said, softer then, but with the same intensity as before. The other man just nodded, his mix of surprise and irritation dimmed down. Peter finally allowed his hands to fall back to his sides, to which Allie notably felt the lack of warmth, rubbing her arms as she stepped out of the cramped elevator. Though she did wave goodbye to the taped man before the doors closed and the lift headed for someone to make a strange discovery.

Suddenly the two men's moments of heated arguing was put to a stop, as a door on the other side of the kitchen was kicked open.

"Hands in the air!" A guard yelled, wielding a clear looking handgun. They must've been made for the purpose of not allowing Erik to take advantage of them, clever enough as it was. At the realization and sight of that though, the group of mutants stepped back, simultaneously lining up, seemingly to surrender.

"Charles," Erik said, waiting for the man beside him to freeze the security team's movements, or even control their minds, causing a peaceful exit from the Pentagon. But the guards drew closer and closer. Nothing was stopping them.

"Put your hands up! Or we will shoot!" The officer up front said, his weapon pointed directly towards Charles. The targeted man gulped and looked worriedly ahead.

"Freeze them, Charles," Erik said, again wondering why nothing was happening.

"I can't," the Professor told him shakily. At the moment he truly wished he hadn't given up his abilities for his legs. Physically running away wouldn't save him now.

"Hands up!" The guard said, for what would most likely be the last time before he would order his squad to open fire. Erik panicked and did the only thing he knew to do. Feeling the carts, pots and silverware, whatever it may be, Erik began to move every metallic item he felt. Maybe he could spook them without killing the squad just to obey Charles' wishes. It only made things worse, however...

Charles put a hand on Erik's chest, in hopes of making him stop just as the shots were fire. But before they could reach the mutants, everything slowed for a certain someone in the room.

Peter smiled to himself as he slipped on his goggles and his headphones, flipping on Jim Croce. He was most likely the best solo musician to ever walk the earth in his opinion. It always was his choice of track when it came to taking a trip out of time and into his own realm. Everything was still, and awaiting him to make some magic; his own little playground for a couple of seconds for everyone else, but an eternity for him.

Running along the walls, Peter toyed around with the guards, fiddling with their clothes and tipping some of their hats comically. As he hopped down from the slippery tile, he made a pit stop to every officer in the room. The first one would receive a plate to the face. The second would be reprimanded by his own belt. The third sucker punched by his very own fist. The fourth and fifth would be tasting each other's guns. Perfect.

Peter whipped off number five's hat, placing it on his head just as he realized the previously shot bullets were still moving towards the group of mutants. ' _Christ_ ,' he thought as he sped over to them, moving each oncoming bullet around the mutants so the little pieces of dense plastic would just zoom by, not hurting anyone.

Once Peter deemed everything secure, he took his place up near the entrance of the kitchen, waiting for everything to go back into full swing.

Allie flinched as the bullets embedded themselves in the wall behind them, sending broken pieces of tile raining down onto the group. All the guards, in some creative way, ended up on the ground either unconscious or groaning in pain. It was quiet as the girl looked up to see Peter smiling at her awestruck expression from across the room. Allie smiled back with gratitude and amazement. The kid really was handy and she was glad Logan thought to bring him along. Who knew what would've happened without his help.

Charles was first to walk to the exit, probably to get away from Erik, considering he wouldn't have much more time to his own without seeing the man in which had betrayed him. Within just a couple of minutes, they'd have to share an hour long car ride with the Magneto, much to the Professor's disdain. He only hoped it would be as uneventful as it could possibly be, plodding up the stairwell with an overbearing dissatisfaction for their situation.

The other two men followed, leaving Allie coming up in the rear. She carefully stepped over all the scattered kitchen appliances and the injured guards, shouting an unnecessary apology when she stepped on one of their hands, though he'd been entirely knocked out. Logan momentarily looked back at the girl with a smirk before turning back towards the stairwell.

"Thanks, kid," Logan said to Peter, grasping his shoulder for a moment in a gesture of appreciation, leaving the kitchen a mere moment later to join the rest of the group. The young mutant nodded and waited for Allie to finally reach his spot near the exit. She took her time, definitely avoiding having a finger under her heel again.

"You know, I've gotta admit," she began as she finally stepped over the last groaning officer. "That quicky thing you do is pretty cool," Peter just laughed at her remark.

"That quicky thing?" He questioned as he led Allie up the stairs, careful to match her short steps so they'd stay in pace together.

"Yep. That's what I said." Peter, becoming impatient with their ascent as he saw yet another flight of stairs rounding the corner, put his hands back to the girl's neck and waist, zooming them outside to the car. None of the other men were there yet, probably panting and dealing with the desire for an elevator.

Allie had her eyes clenched as she pushed away the impending motion sickness, though it wasn't as bad that time around. Maybe she'd finally become immune to all the bullshit that came with zooming around with Peter.

"You can open your eyes now. I assure you we aren't going to run all the way home," Peter said, laughing as he did so. One after the other Allie opened her eyes and stared at the mutant across from her, willing the little tossing of her stomach to go away. He leaned against a stranger's car with his arms crossed, a small smile planted firmly on his face. The girl looked at him in an innocent observation, deciding that she liked his smile for some odd reason.

"Yeah, I'm just still not used to the 'here to there in a second' thing," she told him, running a hand through her hair to detain the tangles made through the strong gusts of wind, lazily sliding onto the hood of their rental. She wasn't even the one running around and she was already a bit tired; she did guess that being off her couch and away from her music sure did go against breaking into highly guarded facilities and kidnapping criminals.

"You'll get used to it, trust me," Peter told her as if he knew they would be meeting again under such circumstances.

"Think we'll see each other again?" Allie asked him, half of her tone serious, half joking. Peter looked down at her and nodded.

"I definitely think so. Do we live very far from each other?" He questioned, knowing that she was with the other three men when they came to get him, so she'd know the time it took to get to his home on the outskirts of D.C.

"Actually, no we don't. You still go to school right?" Allie wondered just how old Peter really was. Now that she actually got a good look at him, he didn't seem as old as she thought. Actually, he looked quite young, which shouldn't have been that hard to tell judging by his playful personality. Maybe even her age, though she was pretty scrawny and didn't live up to the sixteen years old title.

"Yeah, I'm going to a new one, Eastern Senior High School. Got kicked out of the other," Peter recalled sheepishly. The girl raised one brow at that, endless ideas of how that occurred zooming in her head. He probably stole from their entire supply of food or something ridiculous, making her think of the pastries in his bedroom. Allie laughed at his statement regardless, opening up the car door once she spotted the four other men walking towards the pair.

"Well lucky for you, you got thrown into my school."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Allie and Peter stood aside each other as they bid goodbye to the four other mutants. Well, just the Professor and Logan. Erik wasn't exactly up for farewells since they were nothing but acquaintances and Hank had to get busy setting up their navigation system. Which also surprised Allie as Charles had miraculously scheduled a private plane that would take them to their next destination, ultimately where Mystique was going to strike next: Paris.

"Peter, Allie, thank you very, very much. You take care," Charles thanked the two teenagers for their generosity, to which had helped them accomplish something that they wouldn't have been able to do alone. But yet even with the praise from the telepath, Allie was still feeling a bit unsatisfied in regards to her participation and help provided for the team. She didn't really do much aside from getting motion sickness and becoming an extra weight on Peter's shoulders, literally. It was really all of his wit and self composed miracles that got them out of trouble, not hers.

"Ah, sorry about not really helping Charles. If you ever need anything in the future, just let me know," Allie sighed as the Professor nodded, a conflicted smile on his face. Before he could say a few thankful and reassuring words, Logan bounded down the flight steps, having overheard the girl's insecurities. If only she knew, the man thought as he approached the mutants.

"Trust me, kid, you do a hell of a lot in the future. You make some of the worst people realize just how screwed up they are. Save a lot of lives," Logan informed the young girl matter of factly, putting a friendly hand on her shoulder. Allie just stared up at him, unsure of whether to believe him or not despite the kind gesture. She decided, however, not to ruin the moment and just end it with a smile. Logan mirrored her actions, giving her a friendly squeeze before dropping his hand. It wasn't often that Allie found herself someone good to boost her confidence.

"Thanks, Logan. And, thank you, Charles- for... you know, getting me out of the house. And tell Hank I had fun screwing with him," the blonde told the two men happily with a wave of her hand. Charles laughed at her latter statement, recalling how Hank went berserk because of the spider tricks conducted by the younger mutant. Xavier had to admit, in the short time he knew the girl, he'd already grown fond of her. Including Peter as well, surprisingly, despite his prior annoying ticks. The pair would grow to be outstanding people. With that thought in mind, Charles looked down to Allie, giving her a heart warming smile.

"I will most certainly tell him that for you," the telepath chuckled as Logan backed away, his smile widening slightly. He began heading up the stairs once more, stopping when a voice suddenly spoke up from behind the two men.

"Hey, I saw your flight plan in the cockpit. Why are you going to Paris?" Peter asked the men quickly before they crawled up the stairway. Charles paused, a spark of annoyance in how sneaky and snoopy the boy was, flew through him. The professor pushed it aside though, not wishing for trouble to keep the flight delayed. Instead of a mildly irritated retort for the mutant, the telepath just clicked his tongue and started for the steps, turning around to throw Peter the keys to his old rental car.

"Oh and Peter, take it slow," Charles added quickly, looking to Allie desperately, "keep him in check for me will you?" The young girl nodded and waved a goodbye to the older man, going for the passenger side of the car. Peter waved as well and hopped in behind the wheel. Though he didn't turn on the car right away, rather taking time to observe the different exits surrounding them, all leading to various roads and highways.

"I don't think I know how to get back to home," Peter admitted, putting his hands on the steering wheel in an uncertain manner. "Or how much trouble I'll get in for not having a license." Allie turned and looked at him like he was crazy. But then she realized the guy who barely ever lost stamina and ran everywhere he needed to go probably didn't require a license. If only they were all so gifted and lucky.

"I have mine, I can drive," she told him, reaching to open up her door before Peter threw her a teasing comment.

"Will you even reach the pedals?" He asked her joking a little. However, the blonde looked at Peter like she was going to make another one of his games fry on him. She couldn't exactly do that, considering the absence of a gaming system, but she was going to do something to that same effect. Again, the girl did a quick sweep of the boy's mind, taking a deep look at each of his fears. Soon enough, Allie tagged onto one of his really deep rooted ones. She almost laughed at how typical it was.

"What if, I drove you to the dentist Peter? Hm?" She stated quietly, making him envision her holding a dental mirror in one hand and a tooth drill in the other. Peter frowned deeply and pushed himself against the car door, hands held in surrender before him. He wasn't exactly terrified but still extremely put off by the tools. The dentist was where children went if their parents wanted them to die. It was literal hell.

"You have no idea how low that is bro," Allie laughed and made the tools disappear from her grips smugly, seeing as she scared the boy into submission twice then. "I think I'll just drive, and we will figure it out from there." Peter reasoned, shoving the key into the ignition. The car revved up and instantly sped off with the mutant's foot heavy on the gas pedal. Allie nervously threw on her seatbelt, unsure of how safe Peter's driving was. Though she could already guess it wasn't smooth, judging by how she was launched back in her seat. He drove like he ran.

"So," Peter began, much like he had on the car ride to the Pentagon. "What do you fear exactly? Since you know, everyone else's fears are at your fingertips," he said dramatically, throwing the act of spirit fingers in to emphasize his inquiry. Allie pondered her answer. She knew exactly what she feared, but she was a little embarrassed to tell Peter. So instead she just gave him a more typical sounding one.

"Um, well. I guess, I don't want to be taken away from those I love," Allie kept her response short and sweet, visibly tense as she held her breath. Peter looked over at her for a brief second before returning his eyes to the road passively.

"That's understandable. I'd be more scared for my mom and my sister. And what they'd do without me," the boy answered honestly, trying to make his answer sincere. He wouldn't want his mother to be alone and his sister to possibly grow up being exposed to her abilities if she would end up being genetically positive for a mutation. Peter would hate to not be around to guide Wanda and make sure she could control her powers. If he wasn't there, his mother would have to attempt that and show Wanda what to do without any experience herself. And that was a disaster.

"Agreed." Allie sighed in relief, thankful Peter didn't prod about her curt answer.

"Do you got any siblings?" Peter shot her another question. Allie was just glad they weren't as random as the ones he had asked Erik in the elevator. Karate? Where the hell did he even pull that one from?

"Nope, just me and my mom. Dad is out fighting," Allie hummed. Her father was drafted and taken to fight in Vietnam. But it was a couple years before any of the business of breaking into the Pentagon, so she wasn't so upset about the situation any longer. There wasn't much she could do anyways. It happened to many fathers and Allie knew she wasn't alone in her situation. Though it didn't exactly help to put her to sleep some nights.

"Sorry to hear that. Any hot friends?" Peter asked with a smile to lighten the mood. Allie laughed but him asking about friends only darkened the atmosphere. She had a hard time relating to half the people at her school, while the other half was just not worth her time. The blonde shook her head sadly, with a faint smile on her lips.

"No, I don't really talk to anyone," she told the mutant beside her. He made a sound of distress.

"Agh, c'mon you're making me feel bad here. Don't be so sad," Peter whined, his eyebrows furrowed. First he asked about her family in which ended up turning into her drafted father and then Allie's non-existent friends. He was afraid to ask her any other questions. She might be homeless or something in the next conversation.

"Hey don't be afraid to ask some more. I'm alright," Allie told him, reading his quick fear. Peter just looked at her, a little fascinated with how well she could mentally feel him. He hadn't ever encountered someone who could read minds, aside from Charles, even if he couldn't in the unparalyzed life. Although Allie wasn't open to reading every aspect of someone, just their fears.

"You know, you can hang out with me," Peter offered. "I probably won't have any friends because one, I'm the new kid and two, the hair freaks everyone out." Allie laughed as he talked about his gray hair. She wouldn't mind being friends with Peter, considering they broke into the Pentagon together and would eventually have class with each other as well. It was sort of inevitable.

"I'll take you up on that offer," Allie smiled, crashing into her car door as Peter took a sharp turn, almost missing the street that would bring them into town. "My house is on Maple, so take a right up here." The other mutant hummed an 'ok' and took the right turn on Allie's street, almost knocking over her neighbor's trash can. "It's the red house."

Peter pulled into her driveway, narrowly missing the bumper of Allie's buggy.

"Woah, is that your car?" Peter asked, ducking a little so he could see the rundown Volkswagen. The bright hippie colors and the rust made it look like an antique car, something Peter loved to admire, despite their persevering relevance in society. Allie nodded beside him, picking up her round glasses from the center console.

"Yep, I call her Velma. Cause the color, you get it?" Peter chuckled at the nickname.

"Yeah, and that's amazing," he finally turned towards the girl, sighing as he spoke. "Well, I guess this is where we part, until September rolls around, huh?"

"Mhm, I'll see you at school then, so we can be awesome mutant friends," Allie joked, earning a laugh from Peter. He stopped and pulled her into a quick side hug, using his super speed to his advantage. Why a hug was needed for people who only met that day, the blonde didn't know. But she accepted it as, once again, she didn't always get the pleasure of a stranger's embrace. "Alright," Allie sighed, releasing herself from him. "I'll see you then." Peter nodded and sped around the rental, opening the car door for her.

All the generous notions were beginning to tickle Allie a little red in the face.

She smiled as she stepped out, giving another quick goodbye to the boy, and running up to her front door. She heard the driver's door slam shut and the rental slowly pull out of the driveway, but not all the way, as if waiting for Allie to get inside safely. The blonde girl went to knock, but her mother whirled the door open before she could make contact with the white painted wood. There were tears streaming effortlessly down her mother's face.

"Mom what's wrong?" Allie asked, not having moved from the welcome mat stiffly. The car's headlights were still on her, casting ominous shadows around them. Inside the rental, Peter didn't move as he caught glimpse of Allie's disheveled mother, a crumpled letter in her hand.

"It's y-your fa-father," was all the older women could get out, as she pulled her daughter inside the house. The last thing Peter saw was Allie drop her sunglasses and pull her hands to her mouth before the front door closed shut. Peter didn't hear why they were both distressed from down the driveway, though he watched as Allie's sunglasses tumbled to the small step in front of her doorway. Their lenses glinted in the light.

Something compelled him to rush out of the car and grab the pair before someone recklessly stepped on them as they left or entered the house. He did as he for some reason felt was right, and returned to the rental car with the sunglasses in his hands. Peter was terribly worried as he rubbed a thumb over the smooth material of the lense. Maybe he was even a bit scared, and he would be sure Allie could mentally sense it from inside her home.

Peter didn't want to loiter out in the driveway for the entire evening, and pulled away, looking to return home where he would wonder what exactly happened. He could take the rental back the next day but for the time being, Peter needed to play a few video games and maybe look up a certain blonde in the phone book.

A week later...

"Allison, there's a boy on the phone!" Allie's mother called from their kitchen. The blonde mutant groaned from beneath her mountain of covers and crawled out of bed lethargically. Her eyes were red and swollen and tissues littered her sheets. It was truly a disgusting sight but Allie couldn't care less. If the gross sight showed that she did have a care- true feelings, then that was all that mattered to her. She supposed that grief just wasn't a pretty image or idea.

"Hold on," Allie moaned and dragged herself out to the kitchen where her mother stood, leaning against the island counter with their landline in her hand. The mutant grabbed the phone, leaning against the chipped wood.

"Hello," Allie said as she watched her tired mother plod back into her bedroom. She had been looking to find a job for the both of them all week, in hopes of being accepted to make better money to keep on surviving. They found themselves in a very unfortunate situation that didn't have very many solutions. And thinking that more and more families were going through the same thing no longer calmed the mother and daughter, no longer made them feel apart of the club. It only made them grow a greater depression than before.

"Hey there blondie," Allie knew that voice. She didn't really expect to hear from Peter so soon, but she was kind of happy that he decided to speak with her. She really needed someone to talk to. A real friend. Someone other than her mother. No offense to her, but it would be better to talk to someone who wasn't equally as upset as Allie herself. And Peter just seemed like the right kind of guy to fix that fact.

"Hi, Peter." Allie all but whispered, her voice breaking a little. If she talked any louder she would sound raspy and not all that attractive. Not that she really cared how attractive her voice sounded to Peter...

On the other line, the fast mutant frowned. He could hear how upset Allie was. It was kind of heart wrenching if you asked him. Yet, Peter tried to keep the mood light, the last thing Allie needed was him sulking because she was sulking. Even though he had no idea whatever happened. But it must've been bad if it had been breaking Allie down the whole week. He only hoped that he could at least make her feel a little better.

"Hey, do you want to grab something at the cafe in town? Or whatever else you might wanna do. It's totally up to you," Peter said quickly, trying not to be too pushy. On the other end, Allie sighed. All she wanted to do was shrivel up and die. But she couldn't really bring herself to say no to Peter's request for a quick bite in town. It seemed like his way of helping. She could sense that he knew something was up and he was attempting to throw her a bone.

"Um, yeah, of course. We can eat at Franklin's, then go from there I guess," Allie replied.

"Sure sure, whatever you want. Does two o' clock suit you fancy?" Peter asked, checking his neon clock across the room. It was quarter after twelve at the moment. That would give her enough time to get ready right? He wasn't exactly a girl but he could throw out his best assumption... ugh. He didn't really know what he should be doing...

"That's good," Allie said, sealing the deal. She couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips. Suddenly, there was a weird sound on the other end of the line.

"Oh and I just went out to check, it's a bit chilly, so wear a sweater or something," Peter warned the girl as he snuggled back into his warm bed. He'd need his jacket that day. It seemed that the air was getting a bit nippy.

Allie tried to hide her blush, even though no one was around to see it. She couldn't help herself when he went the extra mile like that- even though a mile was nothing for the boy. It was endearing in a way. She'd wish she could return the little favors, but she didn't know how. Was she supposed to play therapist for Peter and discuss his fears with him? Like that would help with anything. Allie would just have to play human and attempt to pitch in her own help like any other person would.

"Alright, I'll be sure to bring one. I'll see you then Peter," Allie said.

"Goodbye, Allie," Peter sighed, hanging up once she did. Now he would have to wait a bunch until two o' clock rolled around. He could sense arcade games in his future to pass the time.

Back at her house, Allie trotted to her room with a little more of herself in her step. Maybe Peter would be the good thing that came out of her father's death. Not that there should be anything to celebrate in a time of mourning, but usually through rough times one can find who their friends really are. Perhaps she and the other mutant boy would become close through time. It would certainly be her first relationship outside of family, which excited Allie a little.

Thinking about her father, however, brought sadness back into Allie's mind and she couldn't save the happy thoughts about Peter any longer. A week wasn't enough for Allie to stop her on flowing tears entirely, but with each passing moment she was able to stop the show of pain a little more. Though she still felt the same on the inside. It was just the natural way to experience loss she supposed. The emotional distress would heal over time.

In that moment she needed to focus on finding an outfit, however.

"Agh, what to wear, what to wear..." Allie hummed as she scavenged her closet for something warm to shield herself from the cool air. She found another Beach Boys shirt, a long army green cardigan, her dark blue skirt and her normally worn leather knee high boots. It would have to work for that day. The blonde absent-mindedly expected Peter to make some teasing, snide remark about her band tee. The Beach Boys were her saviors no matter what anyone said. He'd just have to deal with it.

Allie peeked out her window to see if the sun would be upon them. Turned out that the melancholic clouds were prominent that day and luckily for the mutant, she wouldn't need her sunglasses, considering they were lost anyhow. They were her favorite pair too, with a cool cranberry purple tint to the lenses that made everything seem more vibrant.

She wondered where exactly they had gotten to.

Two o' clock...

Allie pulled her green sweater around herself as she walked down the street to Franklin's Cafe. Peter was right, the weather was fairly cool, surprisingly enough. She didn't quite know why considering it was mid-June. Either way, it didn't really matter. Shivering was better than sweating by all means.

Finally, the blonde mutant made it to their chosen destination after a year long trek. Allie walked inside the town's most popular cafe, the little bell above the door announcing her arrival. She looked around at all the booths and found that Peter was already there, sitting comfortably in the velvet seat. He caught sight of her and waved excitedly.

Allie shot him a small smile and walked over to the table, sitting down opposite of the other mutant.

"Why hello there blondie. Glad you could join me," Peter greeted the mutant, handing her one of the menus on the side of the table. Though he had a happy front, he couldn't help but notice the bags under Allie's eyes and how red they looked. It worried him immensely. He thought that getting her out of the house might have been good, but he was beginning to have second thoughts. That meant that whatever happened to Allie wasn't just bad, it was really bad.

"Hi, Peter," the girl laughed. "How have you been in the week we haven't seen each other?" Allie asked, still smiling softly. She peeked down at the menu and figured she'd grab a coffee and perhaps a salad. 'Weird combination...' she thought to herself, looking around to see if their waitress was around. There didn't seem to be anyone free at the moment, even though there were only a few other patrons.

"I have been as happy as an average mutant teenage boy. What about... you?" Peter asked, afraid that he did. Allie picked up on it and decided to just tell him about her father. He already knew something was wrong, and she would hate to have Peter constantly feeling like he was walking on eggshells around her. It wouldn't be right of her to put him through that.

"My father. He won't be coming home," Allie informed the boy. She couldn't say he died, or else she might have burst into tears. That was the last thing she needed. And on top of that, Peter probably wasn't the best around crying girls and Allie, well, she didn't need to face that embarrassment.

Peter didn't say anything, just looked down shamefully. He didn't know how to react. What was he supposed to do? Tell her it's alright? To her, a dead father wasn't just 'alright.' Peter himself would be too upset to just let words bring him back up to being happy again. That was a bit cheap in his cards. But maybe words weren't needed to comfort someone...

Allie was surprised when she was grabbed by Peter and zoomed around to his side of the booth. The gray-haired mutant had his arms around her in a gentle embrace, a simple show of comfort. Just him trying to make her feel better made Allie really want to cry then. She never had someone outside of her own family be there for her, and she felt blessed someone new finally decided to care. There was a warm sensation gathering in the pit of her stomach, making the blonde feel protected within the boy's arms.

Allie wrapped her own arms around Peter.

"Thank you," her words were muffled into his silver jacket. The boy just nodded.

"I would want someone to hug me just the same if... you know," he explained, trailing at the end, not wanting to make the girl more upset.

"Hey, it's okay. You aren't going to make me much more upset than what I already am," Allie joked depressingly, pulling away to sit back in her booth. Peter frowned at the comment as she moved but said nothing.

"Have you heard anything on Logan and his group?" Allie asked Peter lightly, trying her hardest to make conversation. The boy nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. The news got footage of Erik, Hank and Raven. They were all fighting each other in Paris- like, major. Kinda scary," Allie looked at him. How had she missed all that? She was glad that they had finally turned up Mystique's location, but they were all fighting? Hopefully no one got hurt. She especially enjoyed Logan and Charles. Allie was happy they weren't in the fight. But Hank, was he okay? Surely they didn't battle each other that...harshly...

"Did anyone get hurt?" Allie asked.

"Yeah, Raven was limping so something happened to her leg I guess," Peter told her, recalling the vibrant image of the bright blue mutant stumbling across a courtyard with crowds of people surrounding her. Then Erik came floating down to the level, dragging her body along the ground towards him. Then after that dramatic scene, Hank stepped in with his beast form on full blast. The camera was frantic so it was tough to see what exactly happened, but it was clear there was straight up fighting going on between the mutants.

"I'm still a little upset that you did most of the work on the Pentagon trip," Allie confessed randomly, looking up at Peter. He went to try and console the blonde but was rudely cut off.

"Oh my gosh," a very high pitched voice sounded from behind the pair of mutants. "I am so sorry, I never came to take your orders!" A young girl came hopping over to Allie and Peter's table. She had short brunette hair and heavy amounts of makeup caked on her face. Allie frowned and flipped her coffee mug upwards, trying not to stare at the circles of blush on the waitress' cheeks. "What can I get- hey... you look familiar," the waitress suddenly pointed a red manicured finger to Allie.

The blonde mutant frowned even further and squinted up at the girl. Oh. Allie knew who she was. It was Stacey Smith from school. Stacey wasn't a very nice girl.

"Hey, Stacey. We go to school together," Allie told the brunette blandly. Stacey was on the cheer squad and seemed to be one of those girls who liked to torment anyone who didn't scream and spell out words to raise team spirit. Allie always ended up on her team's radar every school year, no matter how many times she tried to hide in the bathroom stalls or even the closets on special occasions. Smith was always there waiting, smearing virulent words on the bathroom mirrors in her sticky pink lipstick, all directed towards Allie and a few other nameless geeks.

"Ohhhhhh yes, hello Allison Gertrude Simmons," Stacey said with a sugar sweet tone in her voice. Allie flinched at her whole name. "And who's this?" She gestured to Peter, her gaze lingering on his face for a bit too long for comfort.

The gray-haired mutant frowned and could easily see Allie's discomfort with this Stacey character. He instantly came up with an idea so great his imagined light bulb shattered.

"Hi, I'm her boyfriend, Peter," the boy greeted Stacey, giving Allie a sly wink so she would know to follow along. It was Stacey's turn to frown. How had Allie Simmons, the school weirdo, gotten a boyfriend? The cheerleader tried to wrap her head around it, blankly staring at the supposed couple. So Stacey's pretty but she always gets with the idiots who don't know what one plus one is, then there's Allie who can get a nice boy- with gray hair, but still nice. Stacey boiled in her own mind as she turned to the blonde.

"Oh well how nice... Allie," Stacey bit out. She was ready to take their orders but Allie went on, stretching the fabricated story a little further. The blonde smiled while she stared at Peter, speaking fondly of him, a hand ducked suggestively beneath her chin. There was something amusing about their little game.

"I know, he's the greatest man on earth. He always takes me places, and mind you, we are never late. A few days ago he took me to the Pentagon for a tour. How darling is that?" Allie laughed to add emphasis and just because Stacey's face became red with frustration. Peter nodded from across the booth, noticing Stacey's annoyance as well. It made him laugh a little, causing the boy to put a smothering hand over his upturned lips. Everytime he glanced up at the girl's tomato face he couldn't help but burst in short bouts of laughter.

"I have to say," the gray-haired boy held a hand to his heart. "She is the light of my life, takes away all my fears, you get me?" He told Stacey, hinting at Allie's mutation. It was all too easy. Stacey was too easy. The cheerleader just nodded, her nose crinkled as she looked between the apparent couple.

"Good for the both of you. I see you want coffee, Allie..." Stacey said, feigning her sweet tone once again. She officially hated her job and Allison Simmons. Including her little boyfriend too.

T


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Alright mom, love you. I'll see you later." Allie called to her mother as she stepped out her front door, the air thankfully warmer. She was heading to Washington D.C. for the day, as the young mutant wanted to see the big speech and demonstration the President was to give. She heard briefly he would be discussing the matter of mutants, which obviously would be important to hear. Allie hadn't really gotten all the info pertaining to the details since her television cut out as she was watching the broadcast, so she figured she might as well go and see the event in person.

The blonde really just wanted to get out of the house and do something for herself, since the day with Peter raised her spirits. Staying at the cafe until five and pestering Stacey had been quite the show, and gave the two a much needed laugh. And it definitely numbed the pain of her father's death a little, helping the girl to forget for just a moment that the man was gone. Though as soon as it ended the reality came rushing back, but she reminded herself that baby steps were required for such a tedious time in her life. It wouldn't get better with just one day.

"Okay, please be careful. Love you!" Allie's mother called back from the kitchen. The young mutant nodded to herself, closing the front door and then began walking down the street. She was always careful, her mother didn't need to worry.

Half an hour later...

Allie finally made it to the White House, and the mass crowd that had gathered around it already. It seemed that it was a bigger event than most that occurred, and Allie was an hour early. She supposed people had that same idea as her.

Squeezing through the soon to be audience, Allie narrowly made her way up to the front of the line. She was surprised by how easily she was able to slip by people and they didn't notice. Maybe her small stature would come in handy for similar situations. Peter could give her tips on how to remain inconspicuous, although his super speed aided him in that department. Then maybe Allie would be shaped into the greatest sneaker of all time. Dipping in and out of alley ways without notice, taking down criminals in the dead of night. Sounded like a bad mystery novel. But she'd star in it without shame.

With that strange yet comical thought in mind, Allie strode through one of two metal detectors as the security guard beckoned her to. There was no suspicious ringing so she was set free to walk on into the seating section, since the second guard was arguing with a man who didn't have an invitation. The mutant just made a face and began walking away, realizing she was without one as well. It seemed that luck was on her side that day.

Before she could make it far however, there was a beep from the metal detector behind Allie. Out of curiosity to see what person was caught through the prying door, the blonde turned and spotted a man in a wheelchair rolling through the bars. Allie frowned and felt sympathy for him. Probably a war injury, she concluded with a sigh.

But as she looked closer, she noticed the man sitting looked very familiar; the long brown hair and blue eyes. And the young man behind him, pushing the chair looked as if she'd...

"No way," Allie whispered to herself as she recognized Charles and Hank, then Logan standing little ways behind them, being checked by security. The young mutant walked over to the trio excitedly, happy to see her friends safe from the apparently violent Paris trip.

"-these two are with me." Allie caught the last few of the professor's words as he spoke to the security guard. The taller man just nodded and allowed them to go along without the proof of being invited.

"Charles, Hank. Good to see you," Allie said as the two men turned to her. Charles frowned as Hank smiled up at her, squinting behind his glasses. Despite the spider antics he thought the young mutant was pretty nice, and he welcomed her quickly. Though below him in the wheelchair, Charles feared that Allie would be caught in the mix of violence that was sure to happen during the President's demonstration.

"Ah, hello Allie. Yes, yes good to see you too. How did you get in here? Do you have an invitation?" Charles asked, wondering how exactly the girl had made it inside. Surely the guards would have pondered over allowing a teenager strut straight on into a presidential speech.

Allie raised an eyebrow to the telepath.

"Do you have an invitation professor?" The girl answered with another question. Despite himself, Charles laughed at the slick response. He must say, the girl was pretty sly beneath all the innocent acts. Much like Peter, though he didn't try to make it look like he never stole anything in his life. Hell, the kid left a display of television sets in his basement, with all the price tags still pasted onto the frames. If that didn't scream thief, Charles didn't know what did.

"Very well. I would just… prepare yourself for the grand speech. And know where your exits are," Charles advised Allie, hoping that she'd take the hint. He mentally sent her another quick warning, just for reassurance.

'Raven may attempt to assassinate Trask today,' Allie listened to his words echo in her mind, bouncing off her every nerve. If she would've know that she most likely would've stayed home and just watched from their dysfunctional television.

Then Allie remembered her lack of help during the trip to the Pentagon. Maybe she could make up for it by aiding the men in stopping Mystique. Surely they would need it. Allie had never met the infamous woman before, but she could only assume that the blue mutant was unconvinced that their future relied on not killing Trask. And it would take a lot of coaxing to change Raven's mind.

Perhaps that was why Erik attacked her in Paris...

"You shouldn't stay Allie, it is far too dangerous," Charles almost begged the young girl, purposefully pooling his anxiety so she'd sense the danger. He didn't want someone so unfulfilled as Allie to get severely injured or maybe even killed that day. She had so much potential and it wasn't worth wasting on some sort of mutant rally. Nor did he want to be partially responsible for that weight.

"I… want to help though," Allie told Charles with wide and sincere eyes. She truly did want to give a hand because she felt as though she could really help the entire mutant cause that day. Allie was unable to be there for her father, but she would be there for her friends if it meant saving them.

"Just let her come, Xavier. I'll keep an eye on her," Logan reassured Charles as he stepped beside Allie, putting a hand on her shoulder. The future mutant knew what she was capable of, and felt somewhere in his gut that she would be able to somehow convince Raven to not kill Trask by showing her something she's scared of: losing more mutant lives at the hands of humans.

At that, Logan formed another plan.

The beginning of the demonstration...

Allie stood with the three mutants tensely as Charles continued on his desperate search for Raven. His telepathic abilities were slowly narrowing down on the assassin's location, and it would only be a short matter of minutes before the professor found her. His mind swept continuously through all the people that surrounded them.

Meanwhile, Allie herself was tuning out the speech, waiting for the point of it all to finally arrive. The bored blonde busied herself by observing the figures standing around the President. Eventually, her eyes fell down upon a very short man, whom she knew to be Trask. The mutant didn't receive a nice vibe from the dwarfed scientist. Just by seeing his cold gaze, she could tell he seemed as though he would go to inhumane lengths to fulfill his research.

Then, Allie's attention was turned to a strong looking man beside him, wearing an olive green military uniform. He had a stern expression on his features, and a very rigid stature. There was something intriguing about him, as Allie always became obsessed with people who seemed to put up stoic walls. She admired their fears the most, because people like him were able to hide it so well.

Not being able to help herself, the girl dove into his mind like jumping into a pool. Except this wouldn't be a nice swim. Because right as she delved deep, Allie was struck with images that she never could have imagined. His anxiety over failed research- experiments. She saw glimpses of bloodied mutants, exposed and tied to tables. They were all dead. She caught sight of the long and dark corridors, the showers, the cells. His mind was true horror, and she left as soon as she could.

The blonde's heart stopped as all the chilling fears left her. Allie felt as though she was going to be sick and swayed slightly onto Logan's arm. Though he didn't notice, as his attention was tunneled to the President's words.

"-behold, the world will never be the same, again," the President's words rang out through the audience as the large, patriotic curtain fell from behind the stage, revealing menacing looking robots. It was something Allie had never seen before in her life. Not even sci-fi movies could pull off the gigantic beings. The blondes panicked mind began to push itself over the edge between the haunting images and the new robotic discovery.

Were they really serious about eliminating life of the mutants? Who was the real monster then?

Allie looked over at Logan, remembering the plan clear in her mind. Though many other worried thoughts clouded around the goal, making it hard to concentrate.

"Raven," Charles said from below. "I have her," he told the other three mutants. "There- see. Secret Service man by the left of the stage," Allie and the other two men ran over to where Raven was just barely pulling out what seemed to be a gun. As they were meandering through the crowd, the Trask robots began to turn on, activating a hover system from their backs. Allie saw that the short man looked very confused, and turned to the stoic man.

Out of nowhere, a security guard broke their steady pace to Mystique.

"Young lady, gentlemen, I cannot let you pass this point," he informed them, holding his arms out and over Hank and Logan. The robots began to fly even higher at the mutants interruption. Then, without being told to, the Trask creations aimed their mechanical arms at the police.

What was happening?

Without warning, the robots opened fire on the innocent officers causing much chaos throughout the audience. Everyone began scattering around the lawn, making the entire situation all the more scary.

Logan quickly grabbed Allie's arm and pulled her away from the general vicinity of where the bots were shooting. Hank led them over to a car where they could take cover, but the Trask creations shot straight over it, causing the transport to explode to flames. Allie fell to the ground with a thud.

"Agh," she groaned, getting up. A large shadow moved over her and the two men. The blonde confusedly looked up to find a large ring floating above them, crumbled concrete falling from it. It looked like the seats in which surrounded a sporting stadium, but why in the hell was it in the sky? She didn't have long to ponder why on earth it was in the air, because it seemed to be coming down nearer and nearer to the ground; very, very fast.

"Charles!" Logan yelled, making a heavy sprint to the disabled telepath, Hank right on his heels. Allie tried to keep up with their long strides, fearing the she might be squashed by the falling and broken stadium seats.

The giant ring crashed to the ground and the three mutants had luckily made it. They ran the rest of the way until they found Erik in the center of the conflict. Slowly, so as not to alert the metal manipulating mutant they were there, the trio climbed up onto the debris surrounding the presentation, peeking over the top of a broken concrete pillar to see what was happening.

"Probably not supposed to ask this kind of thing, but… in the future do I make it?" Hank asked Logan as they observed the sight before them. Erik was standing with the Trask bots as if they were his small army. He must've been the one making them go off command and attack all the police officers and civilians. Allie frowned at the cruelty of the situation. Did he think he was making the mutant race look better by doing so? In Allie's opinion, she thought it was insane. 'We want respect so we are going to destroy everything you love,' like, what?

"No," Logan told the young man, brutally honest. Hank looked at him, obviously not expecting the answer to come out as such. "But we can change that," Logan confirmed, with his voice openly determined. He was ready to change the way of history, and make sure that all his friends survived- the entire mutant race.

"What about me?" Allie asked out of pure curiosity. Though she was afraid to know the answer, seeing as how Logan was a bit harsh.

"Yeah, last I remember you were sitting with Charles when I came here," Allie smiled, feeling slightly better knowing that she was a survivor in the cold future. Though hopefully after that day, she wouldn't have to consider herself a survivor in any way by the hands of Trask.

Hank frowned, almost as if he thought the situation unfair. Ignoring it, he turned and took off his glasses, handing them to Allie. She took them and tucked them safely within her shirt pocket. Within a few moments, the young man had taken his second form, turning into a blue, furry beast. Being in his more angry self, Hank growled, catching Erik's attention.

The enemy mutant turned and looked to the Trask bot.

"Do what you were made for," he commanded the murderous creation. The robot steadily turned to the trio, raising its arm towards them, obviously about to open fire.

Allie let out a breath. They were targets.

The robot began raining bullets on the three mutants unmercifully. Logan pushed Allie down before she got shot, and she tumbled off the heap of debris. The young mutant took the chance to duck beneath a large tin plank. Though hiding wouldn't suffice as the bot flew towards the mutants. It landed straight in front of Logan and began swinging its mechanical arms at him. His claws escaped and dug themselves in the gattling gun in the bots arm, ceasing it's shooting.

But Logan couldn't hold his position long, as the Trask bot overpowered the mutant in strength greatly and threw him off his feet. It began walking out of sight, until Hank stepped in- or more like super leaped in. The beast landed on the bots head as it began shooting once more. Further ways off Logan ran using Hank's distraction to his advantage. They needed to stop Erik, and fighting the bot wasn't going to allow that.

Tearing out multiple wires and tubes from the back of the bots head, Hank attempted to pull a vital contributor to the Trask creations power. The mutants reckless actions were futile however, and the bot easily threw the beast off it's back like swatting away a fly.

Allie couldn't tell where the blue mutant landed, but it was enough for her to know that she didn't stand a chance against the mechanical weapon. If she stayed there beneath the debris long enough, the bot would eventually seek her out, so Allie had to think of some plan to escape. But she came up empty after a few moments of frantic thinking. Her mind was too cluttered to form something new, all the blonde had was the bits of the plan before everything went to shit.

Allie had to find Mystique. And fast, so the whole thing would be over.

The young mutant furrowed her eyebrows and hoped to whoever was listening that she would be able to make it through the day without dying. Then she ran.

Straight past the bot which had its back turned to her, and right over to the center of the ring. Allie found that she was running to where Erik and Logan were. The closer she came to the pair, the better she could see as metal rods protruding from a concrete block pushed themselves into her friend's flesh at the hands of Magneto. She could hear Logan's gruesome screams of pain then, as he was levitating in the air, slowly easing his way higher and higher.

"So much for being a survivor," Erik said, more so to himself than to Logan, and sent the other mutant soaring through the sky, far away from the political stadium. Allie watched as her friend flew out of sight, only to land in an unknown area. Then, the enemy turned to her, eyes pinning the girl down. She was within only a few yards from the other mutant; the one who was responsible for many deaths that day.

Allie gulped.

"Are you going to try to stop me as well?" Erik asked the young girl as he slowly moved a metal rod to weave through the debris, only to approach his ready hand. Allie knew he wouldn't hesitate to end her, as his lack of compassion frightened the young mutant yet didn't quite surprise her either.

"Not with the helmet on," Allie told him shakily. Her powers were useless if she couldn't reach the mad man's head. Though she wasn't very sure she wanted to peer inside. Charles had certainly made a show of how he never wanted to go back when they were in the elevator at the Pentagon.

"I had faith in you. Now enjoy the show..." Erik said, turning with his hands extended out in front of himself, the rod falling to the ground harmlessly. Allie assumed he was searching for some sort of secret bunker, created for situations such as the complete destruction of the President's front lawn.

Allie quickly ducked beneath more debris as something large flew out of the White House, causing most of the building to crumple in on itself. The young mutant looked towards what exactly landed just beyond Erik and herself, and found that it was some sort of metal box, with a single turn door in it.

Magneto gestured with his arms and ripped away the front wall of the box, and confiscated all the weapons from inside the bunker, pointing them towards the then exposed men. It was definitely a dramatic turn of the tables. Now Allie understood why Erik called it a show...

Adding more emphasis to the connection, the mutant turned all the television cameras onto himself, so he could give the entire Nation his very own speech and demonstration.

Somewhere outside of D.C….

Peter sat in his basement after a long day of harsh video game playing and pastry eating. And all that could fulfill his entire lazy after party for beating his high score in Pong, was the television. And it just so happened that when he flicked on the power, the news was airing a live segment… of Erik?

Peter frowned as he watched as the man started speaking to all who were listening. Behind him was the result of absolute chaos.

"You built these weapons to destroy us," Erik began, turning his head to peer at the men inside the bunker yet. "Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts… because we are different?"

Peter was surprised to find a hint of sadness in the man's voice as he spoke, like he was speaking out of years of agony. But as the mutant thought more of it, how could he not. A scientist was making robots for the sake of destroying the mutant race, if Peter had read the right research as before. It was sick- murderous. The young mutant couldn't help but sympathize with Erik on that matter.

"Humanity has always feared that which is different," Erik turned to face the cameras. Peter zoomed upstairs to find Wanda watching the same event, but from a different angle. The mutant sat his sister in his lap and observed the television carefully. "But I'm here to tell you, to tell the world, you're right to fear us. We are the future! We are the ones who will inherit earth."

Peter frowned once more as he saw a little blonde girl kneeling behind a cheap white chair, almost out of the camera's frame. Was that Allie?

The gray haired mutant was no longer paying attention to the speech as he carefully set his sister on the couch and sped past his mother whom he had not known was watching, into the kitchen, where their phone was located. Quickly Peter dialed Allie's number, waiting for someone to pick up. He secretly hoped it was the girl in which he thought he saw on T.V.

"Hello?" An older sounding voice answered. It wasn't Allie's, but it still sounded cracked and sore. Peter's heart dropped.

"Hi is Allie there?" The mutant asked almost too quickly. He was afraid Allie's mother wouldn't understand any of the nervous words tumbling from his mouth. Peter thought maybe Allie could sense his fear all the way from the White House, but he wasn't sure how far her mind stretched.

Though he was certain his panic was louder than most.

"No, she went to the demonstration in D.C. Is this Peter?" The women asked politely.

"Yesgottagosorrybye!" Peter babbled a farewell and quickly went back down into his basement to see if he could find the channel his sister had been watching, the one with Allie in the frame.

"-I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours," Peter heard Erik's words come choppy as he flipped through the stations. Each one was broadcasting the speech, so every possible angle was available to the mutant. He happened to come across a frame the was better than the one upstairs in their living room.

Peter could see clearly that Allie was in fact there, taking cover on her knees by a chair. He would have laughed at how tiny she was that she could hide her entire body with one chair if she hadn't been in great danger. The blonde was staring at Erik, fear in her own eyes. It killed Peter to watch the scene.

"Let this be a warning for the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there," Erik gestured to Allie with a nod."I say this: no more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows and shame and fear for too long. Come out, join me. Fight together in a Brotherhood of our kind." Peter observed as Erik became stronger in the way he represented the mutants, and Allie sank deeper towards the ground with every one of his words.

"A new tomorrow starts today," Erik ended, almost patriotically.

There was a commotion from inside the bunker which Peter had only noticed being displayed in that moment. Allie jumped at the sudden noise. The President was stepping out of the crowded chamber carefully. Some men were grabbing at his sleeves, in attempts to keep him safe within. Though it probably wasn't very safe any longer.

"Stand down! I said stand down," the President rasped, brushing off the pleading hands at his arm as he walked towards Erik. The mutant turned to the leader. "You wanna make a statement?" The President said, jabbing a finger in the mutants direction.

"Kill me, fine. But spare everyone else," the man stood with his hands up and out, as Erik slowly strode towards him.

"Very heroic Mr. President. But you have no intention of sparing any of us," Erik told him, Peter could sense anger weaved carefully through his words. "The future of our species begins now," Allie stood up and took a few troubled steps away. Peter couldn't see it, but something must've been coming at the mutants, for Erik raised his arm, a few light colored pieces of metal slid along the grass into the camera's line of sight, the parts glinting in the sun. Must've been one of the Trask robots that Erik was able to quickly disarm.

Suddenly, the president pulled a clear gun out from inside his jacket, using the distraction to shoot Erik in the neck. Peter sat motionless on his couch, as he saw Allie jump, and the President become the blue woman he had seen on T.V. the other day. Mystique.

She limped towards the floored mutant. His hand was covering his bloodied neck. Peter could tell Erik was speaking, but it was too quiet to be caught by the microphones.

"Trust...still -m," Was all Peter could pick up from Raven as she performed a flying kick straight to Erik's helmeted face. Then she sent the gun in her hand right onto his head, knocking the metal manipulator out completely. Mystique then pointed the gun straight at Trask. But something stopped her from pulling the trigger.

"Get back outta my head Charles!" Raven yelled, her gun still raised to a man standing within the bunker. The Trask man was frozen.

Raven began to talk to no one, though Peter had an idea of what was happening. Allie seemed confused as well, and just stood by, watching idly. She was ready to complete the task as soon as she could grasp the blue mutants attention.

"Look around you, we already are," Mystique said to the telepath, in response to his unheard words. The women stood for another few moments, contemplating her choices, until a new voice spoke up, ready to add her own coaxing to the mix.

"Raven," Allie said, making Peter intake a sharp breath. He had no idea what she was doing. Challenging someone with a weapon? "Let me at least show you what is to come. I can tell you fear losing more innocent mutants to Trask, but just give me a chance," she said, loud enough for the mic to broadcast.

The blue mutant neither nodded nor shook her head, just stared at the little blonde girl before her. Without hesitation, Allie delved into the woman's mind, showing her just what exactly the future held for them.

And the image was a very, very harsh one. There fields upon fields full of decaying, mutant bodies. The neon concentration camps, the skies dark with sunless days. The thick smoke burning bodies and smell of the dying mutant race. The anxiety of knowing you were soon to be joining them.

Allie began to cry, just as a few tears fell from Raven's eyes.

"If you do this, they take everything from us," Allie began, her hands extended out to the mutant. "You see how they are exterminating us all, even their own kind. And you lose yourself because of the decision that you originally make," the blonde's hands began to shake, as she watched the vision she created, herself.

"Please, just take this vision- this future, into consideration," Allie sobbed as she witnessed Raven's future self be dumped onto another pile of lifeless bodies. The blonde couldn't bare to allow herself and the mutant across from her see the memory of Logan's any longer, and put her hand back to her side. Allie shakily returned to the chair she had been hiding behind, and took a seat, her head in her hands.

She was scared. Scared that Raven would make the choice to kill Trask and doom them, now that she knew what was coming.

Peter's eyes were glued to the small mutant on the screen, not noticing as the politicians moved back into motion, and Raven stood yet with her gun pointed directly at Trask. The blue mutant was still shaking with shock of what she just saw, all her fears set into one image given to her by another mutant, who was plagued as well.

Then, Raven decided, it wasn't worth it. None of it. Whatever the other mutant had shown her, it shouldn't happen. She dropped her gun. It wouldn't happen. The blue mutant turned and pulled Erik's helmet off, saying a few last words before she strode out of the way.

"He's all yours Charles," that was all the telepath needed to hear before he took control of Erik's mind, making the mutant stand up, completely conscious. The professor used the man's manipulations to free himself of the debris in which had fallen on his legs. Hank helped Charles to his feet.

Meanwhile, Peter allowed his eyes to find Erik back to a standing position.

"If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead," Erik said to Charles, who was just barely in the wide camera frame. "You know that."

Charles nodded. "I know."

"Goodbye old friend." The other man said, bidding farewell to the professor.

"Goodbye, Erik." Charles said, still clinging onto Hank for support. He watched as the mutant levitated himself into the air, with one last glance at Raven, and flew out of the stadium.

There was a silent exchange of goodbyes between Mystique and the other two men standing there. Then the blue mutant left the view. Leaving just the men in the bunker, and the three mutants.

Peter couldn't take it any longer, watching as Allie was yet trying to stop her tears from falling. He knew that the mess around her wouldn't do much aid and comfort for her emotional state, and figured he should do something. The gray haired mutant would need to go get her somewhere better, since no one else was going to do it.

In a flash Peter was wearing his silver jacket and his goggles, and was running at impossible speeds to the White House. Once he got to the giant seating ring surrounding the exact place he needed to go, Peter quickly ran twice around it before he found a small opening in which he could squeeze through.

In the meantime, Allie was tired. She felt broken from the sight she had seen. Taking Logan's fearful vision and passing it onto Raven was too much. Seeing it the first time was a shock, and then sending it to someone else was even worse. Because the second time Allie was able to delve deep into it, feeding off three fears at the same time.

Logan's, Raven's… and her own.

The very image of watching fields full of bodies, mounds of people who were killed no matter guilty or innocent, was a nightmare. A nightmare which repeats itself over and over again in one's head, without any mercy.

The only thought slowly pushing away all the fear and worry from the mutants mind was the fact that the trigger wasn't pulled, and in all actuality, Raven had spared all mutants and carriers of the gifted gene.

"-llie, Allie. Are you okay? Answer me, please," the blonde hadn't notice someone talking to her, or how they grabbed her hands and placed them within theirs.

Allie looked up to see a pair of dark, worried eyes peering into hers. Peter, the name in her mind was a relief.

"Take me away from here," was all the crumpled girl said to him, and Peter instantly took her within his arms and sped them away from the stadium, and out to a secluded area. One of his favorite places to visit. An abandoned playground.

The quick mutant set Allie down inside a covered red cube, in the center of four slides. Peter seated himself aside her, and took a deep breath. He wanted to comfort the girl, but yet not be too pushy. The mutant didn't know if space was needed in the situation.

"I don't even know why I'm so upset," Allie said blankly. "Nothing bad's gonna happen. Raven didn't kill Trask. We're saved," Peter said nothing, just put his arm around the girl's shoulders. He summed up that space was not needed.

"Was it a vision?" Peter asked after a few minutes. He wanted to understand what happened.

"It was a reality. One that just so happened to go with Raven's fears. One qualified to be shown to her," Allie took a deep breath. She was ready to tell Peter what she felt, and why she was so scared.

"I could feel what I would have felt in the future. It was strange, something I never knew my abilities would allow. And… and I could sense that something was missing. My friends from that time were almost all dead. Even you." Allie leaned into Peter, using his touch to convince herself he wasn't leaving. That no one was leaving. She couldn't shake away the shock of the vision off her.

"And I could also feel how empty my heart was. How almost every last shred of it was ripped away," Peter looked down at her. "I'm just glad it won't happen now."

The young man beside Allie nodded, himself happy that the vision she had witnessed wouldn't turn into the reality it once was. He had too much to lose now.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

It had been two months since the incident at the White House, the one where Allie had witnessed something no one should have ever seen nor felt. But she did, and in the end, it only made her stronger, and find who her true friends really were.

Peter had been there for Allie almost since the beginning when they met each other at the Pentagon. It was like something the blonde had never experienced in her life. Someone who wasn't relatable by blood but yet seemed to share the same family bond as Allie had with her mother- and once her father. To the young girl, it was almost magical.

In the time it took for Allie to lose the shock of the vision, she remained by Peter's side in almost everything. They'd talk all night about things that were ridiculous. Make fantasies about the people they knew, and even the others they didn't. Then there was always the play house fun at Franklin's where they'd pester Stacey Smith until her shift ended (except both the mutants were happy that the cheerleader never mentioned their abilities which were broadcasted live). And the little boyfriend and girlfriend roles the pair often portrayed began to not need so much acting any longer.

"You know, I've got a question for you Maximoff," Allie stated with a smile, sitting on a dusty and creaky swing. They were once again in the abandoned playground in which Peter had brought them to the day of the White House incident. After the two months the boy would definitely admit that things had gotten much better since then. Allie returned to herself, and no longer outwardly mourned her father or the mass amount of mutants who suffered in the genocide conducted by Trask through the futuristic reality.

"And what exactly would that be?" Peter questioned, curious as to what the other mutant had to say. It had been a little while since they had a serious conversation, since they spent most of their time trying to pull themselves away from more upsetting topics. Always the funny bunch they were.

"Why exactly did you care so much in the beginning?" Allie interrogated, stopping herself mid swing. "You barely knew me, and yet you had been so worried for my well being," she explained, peering up at him. Perhaps, she thought on occasion, it was just the slight bond that mutants had. Or maybe a young person looking out for someone else who shared their taste for adventure. Either way, Allie wanted to know what was going on in the other boy's mind.

"Well," Peter began, thinking over his next words for a few moments. "I guess I just… I don't know… I felt drawn to you- in some way. It's hard to explain," the mutant shook his head, looking down to his lap. It was a little embarrassing for him to talk about the way he felt on certain matters. Especially on the topic of Allie.

"Well I've got time for you to think about it," Allie told him, smiling softly at seeing his red tinged cheeks. It was the first time she saw him actually doing something without such amazing haste. Peter was for once taking his time to formulate something worth saying to the girl beside himself. He figured it would mean a great deal to her, for him to show he truly cared enough to allow her to see how he felt.

"Um, well. We did, what some would say is impossible, together," Peter laughed. "Breaking into the Pentagon and releasing a mutant terrorist isn't exactly something strangers do," Allie nodded with a lopsided grin.

"And there was something about you. Something refreshing," Peter continued. The mutant beside him was hanging off his every word. "I just really wanted to get to know you. Question after question. I'm sure you remember that," they both laughed knowingly. "Well, I just felt the need to protect you and be by your side," Peter finished, hoping his answer was well enough to help Allie understand his initial closeness to her.

The blonde mutant nodded.

"That makes sense. Almost like it was meant to be, huh?" Allie told him, playfully nudging his arm. Peter just nodded and looked at her. He was glad she wasn't catty like the other girls he knew. The one's that never had enough and always needed more. Allie just accepted things for what they were and moved on, enjoying life as it was. Even though in their situation, living a mutant life, it was hard sometimes.

"Yeah, see you get it," Peter sighed. Then he piped up. "Hey, wanna play tag?" He asked Allie, waiting for her reaction to his offer. It was entirely unfair and funny to see everyone's reaction to the offer. Which by everyone he meant Wanda and his mother.

"Did you seriously… just ask me if I wanna play tag, with the fastest person on earth," Allie blinked, a smile forming on her face as she looked at Peter with clear disbelief. The boy nodded with a smile of his own.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I can run like a normal person if I don't try too hard," Peter informed the other mutant, reassuring her that he could play fair if he really wanted. He knew Allie's abilities weren't so much so physical, and he just wanted to have a little equal fun without him showing off his speedy mutation.

Allie narrowed her eyes suspiciously, finding the request strange but accepting it anyhow.

"Alright, but your it first. Can we change this to hide and seek, but I gotta run when you find me?" Allie asked, adding a little more fun to the game without ruining the sheer simplicity of it all. Peter nodded with a shrug.

"Whatever you wish. What should I count to?"

"Probably a hundred," she told him with a raised brow.

"I can talk really fast too you know," Peter sighed, looking to her with his brows raised, lips pursed. Allie just took his hands in hers and held them over his eyes. Once she was sure he wouldn't peek she ran off desperately searching for a place to hide.

Allie figured somewhere on the playground would be too basic; too easy. So she needed to find herself a spot in the scattered woods surrounding the abandoned mulch palace. That's when the mutant spotted a tall, brooding tree standing above the rest. Allie could climb trees very well, though she hadn't done so in some time. But the giant plant wasn't worth losing out on just because of a rusty pastime, so the mutant began walking towards it.

As Allie approached the tree itself, she carefully examined its branches. It was definitely sturdy, and would serve perfectly for her. Just finding a foothold low enough to get started would be difficult.

After a few moments of struggling to seek out something useful, Allie found that there was a little lump of wood that seemed to have been cut off a while back, just far enough away from the ground that Allie could reach it if she stood on her toes. Her upper body strength would be greatly needed if she wanted to climb the tree.

With lots of determination, the small mutant managed to hoist herself far enough up to grab hold of another one of the branches along the trunk. The rest of the way up was much easier and soon Allie found herself hiding within the branches, proud with bright green leaves. Though they would soon be falling once September rolled around. That also meant school...

Allie frowned at the thought. She was scared that her and Peter's appearance on television would ruin them socially. The blonde figured most teenagers who were merely human wouldn't sympathize with mutants, even though they weren't with the Erik's sympathizers. Even so, some were most likely too naive to listen to their denies of any involvement.

A twig snapped below Allie, snapping her out of her discomforting thoughts. She jumped but hurriedly sat as still as she could, only peering carefully down moments later to see if Peter had actually discovered her hiding place so soon.

Allie realized then it would be terribly hard for her to run away from the boy in a tree.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" An unfamiliar voice called from below, making Allie jump. She hadn't anticipated a complete stranger to find her before Peter did. Especially a few miles out from town. The road coming along past the park was mostly run down and almost covered with dirt which had gathered over years of no use. So what was someone other than them doing there?

Allie peeked downwards again, only to find a very suspicious looking man staring up at her. He was wearing a slightly dirtied but yet crisp black suit and dark sunglasses. The sun was reflecting off of them, making the mutant squint down at him.

"I- I am playing a game. What are you doing here?" Allie asked the man, still keeping her voice quiet. The hide and seek mode was still swaying in her mind. And once she got the man to leave, it was back to hiding from Peter.

"I'm lost, I was wondering if you could help me out to the road," the man called. He was unusually stiff in his movements as he gestured to the surrounding area. The trees weren't that thick. If you moved a little ways south you'd easily spot the dirt path.

"I can point you to town, or did your car break down or something?" Allie had much experience with her constantly malfunctioning buggy, so if that was the case she understood the man's struggle. The last time she drove it, Velma's motor had taken a shit on her, leaving her unsafely in the middle of the road. She had to ask a man in his truck to help her tow it back to her house, which was an extremely awkward encounter. It had been quite the horrid day.

"I don't want to go to town, and yes, my car did break down. I need help finding the road again," the unknown man replied, still without much emotion. Allie's red flags were being raised in her head. There was no way he just happened to break down on an abandoned road. No nicely dressed guy like him would have a purpose driving that path.

Although, Allie's mind countered, they did live right next to Washington D.C. Perhaps someone superficial from there got lost. But it was almost impossible for yet someone from D.C. to have business in a small town.

The mutant couldn't decide what to do. She knew for a fact though that she needed Peter. But she didn't quite know how to signal to him with her abilities that she was in trouble. Though Allie did know for a fact however, that Peter was terrified of losing her, as she'd often times evaluated his fears. Maybe if she projected him a quick image of the man before her, on the ground threatening her, he'd get the picture. Then he'd find the tree and try to work things out with the mystery guy.

"Okay, um, it's a bit complicated to get down from here," Allie looked down at the man with a fake apologetic expression on her face. "I need to climb up a little more before I can climb down, you get me?" She asked, waving a thumbs up-thumbs down at the stranger. He only nodded and crossed his arms.

Allie used the little time she had to reach the depths of Peter's mind.

Back at the playground...

"Jesus Christ! That was the last friggin' place to check and I still didn't find you! I bet you're laughing your ass off right now!" Peter called out to Allie, who he assumed was hidden fairly nearby. He had finished counting minutes before and began trucking around the playground, seeking out every single nook and cranny, finding no trace of the little blonde mutant. He was appalled by how easily he could lose track of someone.

"This is outrageous," Peter laughed to himself, walking away from the set of slides, going to the center of the playground until he suddenly felt something. His adrenaline began picking up for no reason, breathing instantly coming out in short breaths. And then there was a deep feeling of dread rising within him. But what was it exactly?

Then, as quickly as the feelings came, a picture overcame his eyes. Before him wasn't the playground any longer, but the image of Allie sitting in a tree. A very big tree at that, towering above the ground. Then Peter noticed a man standing at the base of said tree, holding a gun up towards the mutant. His eyes widened at the sight.

'I'm not coming down,' Allie's voice echoed in his mind. It was a strange sensation, though Peter didn't pay much attention to it, as he was focused greatly on the scene before him. With his breathing becoming much more rapid, he watched as the man tightened his grip on the gun.

'I don't need you to,' he said deeply, pulling the trigger, making Allie gasp. She swayed on the tree a little, until pain overtook over her. She fell to the ground where the man was ready to scoop her up and walked her in the direction of the road. Her screams sent chill through the boys body. Peter felt as though his throat was being constricted by a snake at the sight. But then it disappeared. The mutant was back at the playground as if nothing had ever happened.

That's when he heard it.

"PETER!" He knew distinctly who it was before even the second syllable. Then he knew the next sound. A gunshot and then a scream.

That was all the mutant could bear to listen to before he broke into a dimension splitting sprint to the source of the screams. Through the slowed haze of the situation, Peter quickly came upon the man he had seen in the vision, with a real gun too, raised towards Allie. The girl had already begun falling from the tree branch she was previously perched upon, a pained expression etched into her features.

Peter stood beneath Allie's shadow and allowed time to normalize once again. The blonde dropped perfectly into his arms. Then with his speed, he set the girl on the ground carefully, being sure he didn't brush her shin, which had a bloodied hole in it. The bastard was making sure she couldn't run away. But he did the task in the worst way possible, most likely shattering the bone in Allie's leg. The action only fueled Peter's anger.

The next stop was to the man in question. Peter took his gun and flung off his glasses. The attacker wasn't familiar to the mutant, so he decided to keep the man alive for further questioning. There was no way Peter was just going to let the man get away with what he did.

Before allowing himself to slip out of the slowed realm, Peter opened the man's mouth, checking for a cyanide tooth, or some other fatal poison that would allow the him to get away easily. Unsurprised, Peter did in fact see a tooth out of place from the others. As he slipped his fingers into the man's mouth with a slight grimace upon his face, Peter carefully plucked the small capsule out of the stranger's gums. How filthy.

That meant the business the shooter was connected to was top secret; not to be shown to anyone under the exact circumstance they've found themselves in.

After patting the man down, Peter placed the attacker's tongue between his teeth and stood by Allie, before allowing everything to fall back into action.

The man bit his tongue so hard it began to bleed in the first second back. Then in the second one, Peter shot the man in the leg, just where he had shot Allie. In the third, the girl herself sighed in relief at the sight of the other mutant. The fourth was music to both their ears: a scream of pain from the stranger.

"Just so you know, no one touches this girl," Peter informed the man, sloppily pointing the gun back and forth to emphasize his words. The mutants could see the stranger rocking his jaw around, blood slowly seeping down his chin. "Oh and I took your cyanide tooth," Peter said nonchalantly. "So you can stop doing that thing with your face. It's disgusting."

Peter then looked down at Allie, his eyes taking a softer appearance as he saw her begrudgingly holding her leg, her hands covering the bullet wound. She needed to get to a hospital. Though there wasn't much blood, since the bullet itself was still lodged into the mutants bone, it didn't mean there wasn't any internal bleeding. Which could potentially be fatal.

"I'm going to go get her the help she needs, then you and I," Peter waved the gun between himself and the attacker. "We are gonna have a nice little chat. Mhm, great, glad you can agree," then in a flash Peter zoomed Allie out of the small woodland area and to the closest hospital. It was miles away but for Peter, it was absolutely nothing. He'd run around the earth a thousand times for Allie.

In barely a minute Peter found himself in front of a hospital. He didn't care to see which one it was, rushing towards it.

Choosing to swing on into the emergency based doorway, Peter held Allie in his arms as he walked to the first person he saw. It was a nurse, who turned to Peter with a worried face. The woman beckoned to him and led the boy to a hallway branching from the lobby. She instructed him to set the mutant on an open gurney and leave the rest to them.

Once he was sure Allie was safe and heading to the help she need, Peter zoomed out of the hospital, pretty sure his mass speeds shattered their glass doors, and straight back to the man. The one who shot his friend for unknown reasons. But Peter would find the answers soon enough…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Peter stood in front of the man, fingers twitching anxiously as he watched him roll around in the dirt. He'd tried crawling into a shrub for cover, but the mutant had made it back to the woodland before he could make it in time. Becoming impatient, Peter stalked towards him and grabbed the man by his injured leg, pulling him back out into the open viciously. The stranger bit out a cry, hands shielding his face.

"Okay, so are you ready to tell me who the fuck you are and why exactly you shot my girl?" Peter spat, grabbing the gun in which he had tucked in his pants when he ran Allie to the hospital.

The man just smiled, blood mixing with his saliva over his teeth. "Your girl?" He asked rhetorically. "I don't think we've ever seen you make a move yet," Peter's lips were set into a thin line as he listened carefully. So some organization, judging by 'we', was watching them. Perfect.

The mutant sighed.

"I'm sorry to be so bland and cliche, but who are you and who do you work for?" Peter interrogated the stranger, trying to crack the answers out of him. It was soon going to get painful if the guy just countered Peter's every question with even more questions. The gray haired mutant was running on a short fuse.

"My name is David. And I work for people who don't like your kind. That's why I shot 'your girl'," The man, David, said, mocking Peter's words hatefully. Though the mutant was angry with the notion, he was slightly relieved that he was able to squeeze at least some information out. Even though it was half assed and vague, something was better than nothing.

"What, like Trask?" Peter questioned, throwing his arms out in an exhausted manner. That was the first anti-mutant group that came to his mind. The man just stared at him, his tongue hanging slightly out of his mouth. Once again the mutant made a face of disgust, watching as the attacker struggled with his injured tongue. This David character just didn't give a shit about anything did he?

"No, we are not Trask. We are worse," David told Peter menacingly, still emphasizing 'we.' The mutant frowned, his heart dropping slightly. He felt that he and Allie were in great danger, since she was being treated for a bullet wound and the man responsible at Peter's feet was practically spitting venom at him. They'd need to watch their backs, considering the fact that there was no chance just the man before himself was the only one hunting the pair down. Obviously someone greater wanted the mutants for whatever reason. David was just a hitman working for a greater cause. A sick cause.

Peter sighed for what he felt was the millionth time that day.

"Are you going to tell me anymore than what you have?" He asked David, kneeling down so their eyes were level with one another. The mutant felt it was going to get boring, sitting there asking questions only to receive more, when there was an easier way to earn information: a certain telepath who could scavenge anything from anyone's mind.

But first, Peter would have to kidnap the kidnapper, then figure out where to find Charles. Step one...

"Probably not," David slurred, his eyes watering as he bit his tongue again. Peter just nodded and frowned, turning the gun around in his hands.

"Please try not to get a concussion for me," the mutant asked sweetly before hitting the man across his head with the butt of the pistol. David's head fell to the ground ungracefully, flopping to the right. Peter rolled his eyes, realizing he'd have to carry the man to his car. There was no way he was taking David anywhere near their homes, as for all Peter knew, he could be tracked. Even though, by the minimal information given, their addresses were already out in the open.

With a strained sigh, for the second time in the session, Peter lifted the man onto his shoulder and began his speedy run to the closest car rental company.

It was going to be a long day...

The hospital...

Allie hadn't remembered going to sleep. All she could recall were the events before, during her innocent game of hide and seek. The man had come around the tree, and pulled out a gun just as she finished showing Peter her little vision. Then he shot her, the intent to hurt her relevant in his eyes. The mutant hadn't really felt it at first, she only felt the anger for herself.

The day at the White House, after she displayed Raven the mutilated reality, Allie had completely forgotten about the man in the olive suit, the one that was the bearer of the horrific sights of bound mutants- dead mutants. As she thought more about the man, the more she began to put the puzzle pieces together. He must've been the one who orchestrated the attempted kidnapping. He probably targeted both her and Peter for having involvement with the White House episode.

Allie was disappointed with herself for being too caught up in the mess that Erik and Raven had created that she didn't spare a single thought that maybe after her appearance in Washington, the man would come after her.

And then came the attack that Peter had saved her from, much to the girls luck.

It all brought Allie to the hospital she was in, with her leg raised slightly in the air by a stiff pillow and dressed in a soft gown. She mentally thanked Peter for bringing her to the hospital first, then asking questions of the shooter later.

There was suddenly commotion from outside Allie's room. She could distinctly recognize the first voice as her head nurse, then the second as… Peter?

"I don't know if I can believe you sir. There is certainly no wedding ring on your finger… nor hers at that!" The nurse said loudly enough for Allie to eavesdrop. Of course Peter would act like her lover just to see her. It made the blonde's heart flutter for a few moments as she listened to the boy speak.

"Do I look like I can afford any of that crap?! Just let me innnn!" Peter whined. The doorknob jiggled and Allie knew the other mutant would get in whether the nurse allowed him to or not.

"Let me confirm this with the patient if she is awake. And if she isn't, you're not coming in," Allie listened to the nurse as the door slowly opened. The brunette woman peered inside and rolled her eyes, seeing the patient awake. That meant she'd have to deal with the weird looking boy behind her. Was gray hair so young even healthy?

The nurse pulled Peter inside the door, just enough that his head was the only thing in Allie's view. They both smiled at eachother.

"Is this your husband, miss?" The older woman asked, trying to keep an anxious Peter from walking further into the room. She held him by his jacket like a mother would a child.

"Yes, yes of course. Hello Peter, I'm so glad you're alright," Allie beamed fondly at the gray haired boy who was giving the nurse a smug look. The older woman just rolled her eyes at the two and left slamming the door on her way out. Allie swore she heard the brunette mutter a bitter, 'fine.' Glad she wanted the mutant to have someone there for her...

Almost as soon as the nurse left, Allie's smile fell. She was most certainly glad Peter was alright, but she was still nervous about their situation. She was shot, and then almost kidnapped.

"What did you find out?" Allie asked Peter hurriedly. The boy heaved a great sigh and slid into the bed next to her, making himself comfortable. The blonde next to him was too mind cluttered to allow the butterflies in her stomach out of their cage again. Then wasn't the time to get lost in her feelings.

"Well," Peter put an arm behind his head. "I didn't take much time to ask him questions, 'cause I was getting impatient with him. So he's outside in the trunk of a car I stole from the rental place- the one past Main Street," the mutant explained with an easy conversational tone. Allie couldn't wrap her head around her friend's immediate state of calm. She yearned to know his secret.

"Why? Are we going to interrogate him somewhere else?" Allie asked, looking quizzically at Peter. She hoped he wouldn't try to bring the man into their homes, knowing that he probably had a tracker on him of some sort. The blonde would never allow it.

"Yes actually. I figured it would be like, sooooo much easier if Charles were to ask the questions," Peter informed Allie on his master plan. The blonde was actually impressed, nodding her head proudly. She hadn't thought of using a telepath to just find out who the man was. That would make things all the more easy and efficient. That way they'd tell if the man was lying or telling the truth. The entire truth.

"Well, I don't know how long they want me in the hospital..." Allie sighed, snuggling deeper into the plush pillow provided for her. Beside her, Peter looked over at the girl, realizing that she was injured and wouldn't be able to come with him to see Charles, wherever the man was located at the moment. And for Allie to be left alone while Peter was away would be too dangerous. He wouldn't be able to keep his nerves at bay if that happened.

Both mutants sighed in unison. Then they both laughed.

"I'm really tired..." Allie yawned. She had gotten shot, it was allowed.

"I will let you sleep on my shoulder again," Peter grinned down at her, cocking his head as if proposing his offer. Allie smiled and pulled his arm around her shoulders, allowing the mutant access to the amazing pillow as well. "You don't think he is gonna get out if we take a nap, right?"

"Nope, cause I parked the car so that the trunk was stuck beneath someone's porch a block or two away," Peter smirked up to the ceiling, scooting closer to Allie so he was no longer hanging off the bed then. "I also duck taped him, kinda like the elevator dude," he added sheepishly. The blonde just laughed at his remark, feeling her eyes droop at the added warmth of Peter next to her. They'd never been as close as they were then.

"Why does this happen to us...?" Allie asked Peter, her speech trailing as her head fell to his chest. Her eyes were already closing.

"Because, we've gotta carry the burden other's can't handle. Shit happens, I guess," he told her, brushing the hair out of her eyes even though they were shut tight. Peter just wanted some excuse to touch her. Though he didn't quite know why he felt the temptation. Just some daily dosage he needed of his friend, he assumed.

Allie was already asleep in his arms, and Peter gave a sigh of content. If he could, he'd shove his family in his backpocket and stay there with Allie forever. He'd never felt so happy with just one individual before, like he was internally set for life if he had Allie by his side the rest of the way. He wouldn't ever let anyone take her from him. She was his.

Peter didn't know it then, but he had hard feelings for Allie.

Allie's head...

She wasn't alone, yet the white room she found herself within was empty. There was a bookshelf on the far wall, childish stories perched within. The words on their spines mocked Allie, her mind having difficulty with reading them.

Suddenly, a woman strode into the room wearing a matching blazer and skirt, button up with a cat pattern beneath it. Her hair was done up in a high bun, a couple dark brown wisps of hair framing her tanned face. With her professional appearance came the overtly fake smile that should've warmed Allie, but only put her off.

The woman's eyes narrowed onto the girl's. "Hi Allie!" She all but squealed. The blonde didn't say anything, just stared into the plastic table she was seated at.

As if observing something, the woman wrote down a note onto the clipboard she carried.

"Alright, how are you today Allie?" The lady tried. Allie just released a shuddered breath and sat further back in her seat. She contemplated not saying anything at all, but figured after a moment that her chances of going home would increase with communication.

"Good," the girl whispered, glancing up at the woman through her bangs. Her ID badge read the name Jennifer.

Jennifer beamed at the girl, seeming to be satisfied with the progress. There was an adult sized chair in the corner that the woman grabbed, placing it in front of Allie's little table. Upon sitting down, Jennifer assessed the girl.

She looked at her perfectly styled braids that looped down her arms.

"Your hair looks very pretty today," she told her. Allie looked down with a shy smile, cheeks tinged pink.

"Thank you," she giggled.

"You're very welcome. How old are you?" The woman slowly eased her way into the conversation, noticing how the girl was becoming more comfortable.

Allie pondered her answer for a moment, trying to count in her head. It was hard, harder than it should have been for a seven year old.

"I- I'm… seven," the girl said at last. Jennifer nodded approvingly, scribbling something down on her paper.

"Very good," she mumbled, still writing. Allie just sighed quietly, letting her legs swing beneath the table. Then a pamphlet slid in front of her. She looked up to find Jennifer staring expectantly at her. "Can you read this for me please," she asked.

At the words the girl blanched, looking down at the pages with fear. Jennifer looked at her worriedly, seeming to understand the anxiety that the girl possessed.

"Just, take your time Allie," the woman said softly, placing her hand onto the girl's shoulder. It didn't comfort Allie in any way, but rather made her feel stupid. Stupid that she couldn't read like the other kids.

"Okay," the blonde said, scooting forward so she could see the words. And she tried her best.

Half an hour later, Jennifer held her hand up, signaling for the girl to stop. They made it three and a half pages, and she figured it was enough to make a final statement over the girl's learning disability.

Allie would be staying with them for a while, so they could catch her up with everyone else.

"I'm going to go talk with your parents," Jennifer informed the girl, standing with a smile. Allie wiped away one of her frustrated tears, nodded silently at the woman. With a sad smile she walked out of the room, finding that the girl's parents were sitting right outside.

Her mother looked up anxiously while the father grimly held the other's hand. Jennifer smiled down at them, looking to her clipboard for a moment before informing them of her conclusion.

"She needs a lot of work, and I think that Allie has a great potential. We've seen a lot of children come in under the standards and then leave only to graduate valedictorian," she explained to them. The mother nodded, frown set on her face as she realized they would be taking her baby away for a little while.

"H- how long will she be with you?" The older woman questioned, seeming to tighten her grip on the father's hand.

"About a year at most. You'll be given visiting hours every two weeks," Jennifer stated, leaning against the doorframe behind her. The girl's mother frowned, glaring up at the woman.

"I want to be able to see my daughter whenever I want," she demanded, finding it hard to believe that they didn't allow parents to see their children more often. Allie shouldn't be so alone and with only strangers to comfort her.

"I'm sorry but it's crucial to the learning process, we can't allow her to lose focus between days. She needs to work, that's the only way Allie will get past this," the young woman explained sharply, making the mother back down. She only sighed in her chair, nodding to herself after a moment of deep consideration.

"Okay… alright," was all she said, not making eye contact with the other woman. Jennifer nodded, walking little ways down the hall before turning.

"Come, I'll help check you out and then you can tell Allie of the decision," and then that was it.

The next day Allie was packed with her belongings and driven back up to the institute, Jennifer awaiting the girl patiently in the colorful lobby of the place. Allie didn't know why she was back, with all of her clothes too.

As they entered, they immediately went towards the young woman, sporting another matching suit. She smiled happily at Allie, who skipped towards her with familiarity. She smiled shyly at the lady.

"Hi," she said quietly to her. It made Jennifer laugh at how much she'd loosened up.

"Hi Allie," she replied. And then the parents came up behind their daughter, turning the situation much more dark. "Do you know what's happening today?" She then asked the girl. Allie shook her head, looking up at her parents briefly before returning her attention to the woman.

Jennifer sighed, bending slightly to reach the girl's eye level. "You're going to be staying with us for a little bit," she said slowly, trying not to make it sound like anything more than what it was. But Allie immediately took it there.

"What?" She said, bottom lip quivering as she grabbed her mother's hand.

"Yeah," Jennifer said, at a slight loss of words. "You'll be learning, like school," she quipped, hoping the girl didn't hate school, as that statement would be sure to send her off her rocker.

"Oh," was all that came from her mouth.

The mother and father looked worried, but continued to remain quiet, knowing that if they spoke, it would be to stop the entire thing from happening. Allie had to get better, despite the circumstance they found themselves with.

"Okay, wanna say goodbye to mommy and daddy?" Jennifer said after a few moments, having expected the parents to say something to comfort the girl. Allie only looked at them for a moment before looking back to Jennifer.

"No," she said, tears running down her face. "I don't wanna," the mother shook her head and kneeled down, grabbing the girl's shoulders.

"Hey, hey," she cooed to the girl, instantly stopping her tears. "It'll be okay, you're still gonna see mommy and daddy. They're going to help you to read like all the other kiddos, okay? We love you, and we are just trying to help."

The statement seemed to help, but when Jennifer took Allie's hand, the girl started up again.

"Wait," she pleaded, oblivious to the way the young woman was silently shooing the parents from the scene. They begrudgingly walked away, Allies pleads turning into screams as she called for her parents to come back, to not let her there alone. But they only disappeared through the doors, leaving her.

Allie had never felt so betrayed.

The hospital...

Peter was already awake after he heard Allie's distressed moans in her sleep. She pleaded quietly beside him, her body jolting from time to time with each word.

"No, no… ma… come back… please..." She'd say, her words muffled into his shirt. Peter would've laughed if she wouldn't have started screaming for some woman to 'stop and let her go home.'

Peter quickly shook Allie awake, afraid all the doctors and nurses of the entire building would rush him out of the room for attempting murder on a patient, because she was screeching at the top of her lungs. That'd be just his luck, though the mutant would just zoom back in to solve that issue.

"Allie, Allie. Wake up, hey. Wake up," Peter pleaded as he sat the blonde up, his arms still around her. She suddenly snapped awake and stayed motionless for a few moments. And then the tears came and she wrapped her arms around him, crying into his neck. And most likely getting his gray tresses all snotty.

Peter grimaced at the thought but the idea of Allie hugging him and needing him beat it. There were some things just worth it, even if it was the fun green stuff that comes out of noses.

"Talk about it. Makes you feel better," Peter told Allie gently, rubbing his hand up and down her back soothingly. Her tears were beginning to grow a little worse.

She was embarrassed to tell him the truth, so the girl quickly made up a more probable terror.

"It was that man and he was hurting you," she choked out, squeezing her arms tighter around Peter. She wished that she'd have the confidence to tell him the truth, but it was such a dark time for her younger self that it was just too much of a touchy subject. Allie and her own mother didn't even like talking about it, as they mutually decided not to. But even yet, the dreams plagued her from time to time. And they still brought back the anxiety from that very first day her parents left her.

"Look calm down, it's alright, I'm here. No one's going to take me," Peter reassured Allie, still rubbing her back, reminding her of the lie she'd fabricated. His other arm tightened around her waist, as if holding onto her wouldn't allow him to be taken.

"We don't know that..." She pulled away from the discomfort of their position, attempting to go along with the apparent anxiety that she had. Which now that they were talking about it, she would admit to having the fear that something would happen to him. If they had come after her, it would surprise the mutant if they had their sights set on Peter as well.

Her leg was all twisted up in the covers and it was beginning to hurt, too much pressure being applied to her leg. Peter quickly helped her pull the blankets up and over themselves once again.

"We can know once we go to Charles," Allie looked to Peter who had a determined expression, like he was ready to jump up and solve some sort of mystery. Which in some ways, was exactly what they were doing.

But Allie didn't know how to treat a shattered bone without the hospital's care. If she left with Peter, she could possibly end up in an even worse condition. The mutants really didn't know anything pertaining to medicinal practices.

Though, they didn't have long before they'd need to head to wherever Charles was located. For all they knew, it was on the other side of the planet. Hell, the telepath was British. He could live in London and they'd need to plan a flight. The possibilities were endless. As were the problems and the issues that branched off them.

As she wiped her eyes, getting rid of the last few tears, Allie turned to Peter who was looking expectantly at her. He wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want to do, but he didn't want to leave her alone either as he took care of a very important interrogation. That would be too dangerous.

"I- I guess we can go..." Allie sighed, remembering when she first met Peter. "Do you still have the card for Charles' school?" She asked the boy beside her. She could recall him obviously showing off his speed down in his basement as he snatched the professor's wallet and began reading all of it's items hidden within. The blonde knew for a fact he caught an interest in the 'gifted youngsters place.'

"No I put that back in his wa- wait a minute. No. Did I?" Peter struggled to remember something. "YES! I did, I took it." He then celebrated digging in each of his pockets quickly, finally pulling out a small business card with the address to the school. Exactly where they needed to go to find Charles.

New York.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Oh, turn up the radio," Allie pointed to the knobs from the backseat of Peter's lovely rental car. He'd managed to steal a 1958 Chevy Biscayne from the lot, much to his delight. And the blonde in the backseat would admit, she liked his taste in cars. Her dad would've been proud of her choice in men… er, friends.

"Youuuuu dooo itttt," Peter stretched his words out as he took a very long turn on the highway. They were finally getting closer and closer to Pennsylvania after quite a few hours. Soon they'd be crossing the border and be one state closer to New York.

"Can't… reach… volume..." Allie rasped as she extended her arm as far as she could towards the knobs. Though it only made it a little past Peter's shoulder. "Damn," she gasped, falling back and hitting her head against the window.

"Last I checked slamming your head against things does not improve hearing," Peter sighed, finishing the turn and finally being able to drive straight. Now he could man handle the radio, but by the time he got there Elvis was replaced by the Beatles. It was still a good group of musicians however, so Allie wasn't so upset.

Though up front Peter was egging to shove his Pink Floyd cassette in the player and listen to them instead of the other popular British band. If only he'd thought have it with him.

"Blah, I didn't ask for your input," Allie told the boy driving, crossing her arms behind him. Peter looked in the rearview mirror at her, one brow raised as he did so. There was a look in his eyes that told the blonde he was ready to cause trouble.

"Oh really? Will you need my input once I turn the station to..." He paused, knobbing through each signal until he came to the calm sound of violins and flutes. "Classical?"

Allie groaned and rolled down her window, mimicking jumping out.

"Tell mom I love her!" She called, sticking her head out, feeling the pressure of the wind a against her face. It was near to what it felt when she moved with Peter during his inhuman running. Except the force outside the car was mild compared to the other experience.

"Git back in here before you actually get thrown out," Peter laughed, reaching his arm around behind his seat to grab Allie's hand. With one easy tug she was back in the walls of the car, dropping onto the seat with a thud.

"Jeez, do you work out or something?" Allie asked him, poking his bicep. Peter just made a face at the random question, shrugging his arm from her insistent jabbing. She was starting to sound like him in the elevator.

"No, I'm just carrying you people every time I gotta run," he teased, smiling at Allie through the mirror. "And well, you're just weak," Peter added, tongue sticking out through his teeth. The blonde behind him scoffed and smacked the headrest. "Oh I'm sorry, did you flick the back of the seat, cause I barely felt anything."

"Oh my God, stop it," Allie pleaded, laughing with the boy up front. She wasn't offended at all, in fact, the mutant quite enjoyed their constant teasing and banter. It added to the entertainment of everything throughout their rather interesting quests. The comic relief of the tragic film in comparison.

"I've got a strong mind, y'know," Allie said, her chin on the seat beside Peter's right ear. "Speaking of which, did you see my vision I sent you this morning, before I got hit by douchebag back there," Allie yelled the nickname loud enough that she hoped the man, David as Peter had informed her, could hear.

"Yeah, I did. And it scared the shit out of me..." Peter frowned at the memory. It was something he hadn't really experienced before. It was like someone pulled a screen over his eyes and began projecting a movie on it. But more like a reality, it felt that real. Like he could've rushed David if he wanted to.

"I'm sorry, I just needed help and didn't know how else to get to you, without getting the guy all excited," Allie apologized, putting her hand on his shoulder. She played with the ends of his hair.

"Bastard ended up shooting you anyways..." Peter muttered, thinking of David with almost murderous thoughts. Oh how he'd like to shoot him in the leg… oh wait.

"Luckily you were there," Allie sighed, tugging at Peter's hair. As if her mind flipped on the dime, the girl began pondering herself. She wished there was something cool about her, something that set her out from other people on a physical aspect. Not a mental one.

"Is there something on your mind that's making you yank my hair?" Peter asked, his head pulled to the side from how much Allie was pulling on the gray pieces. The blonde nodded.

"I wanna have some weird thing that makes me look cool," she admitted to the boy, letting go of his hair. Peter gave a sigh of relief and turned slightly to look at Allie confusedly. Did she not realize she didn't need some change in hair color to make her interesting? In fact, Peter thought she was perfect just the way she was.

"Nah, Allie, you're fine the way you are. You don't need anything else," Peter told her, blindly throwing his hand back, mentally aiming to pat her shoulder or something. Instead he hit the girl in the face. "Woops, sorry."

Allie just laughed and slapped his shoulder, until she made a sound of discovery, almost.

"He fell asleep, turn down the radio. I can do something else," she said hurriedly, pulling away from the front seat. Peter did as she asked and listened carefully, taking occasional glances at her through the rearview mirror.

Allie closed her eyes and snuck into the gates of David's mind, sweeping through the many things he was afraid of. She could see he had three children, all girls. Scared of when they finally became teenagers and grew up on him. It was a typical anxiety for parents.

She found it strange how such a horrible person could have children of his own. How does a murder- a hitman, raise kids? Does he turn them into the monster he is?

Allie then came across another fear of his, something that was at the same time of the spider fears. Perfect for bad dreams. David hated heights.

"He scared of heights," Allie whispered. Peter grinned in the front seat, imagining the nightmare already. The blonde carefully orchestrated an unoriginal scene on top of a very, very tall building. She motioned mentally for the idea to be passed onto David's mind, his blank state altering to the image. Allie could see him standing on the roof then, in the center of a painted 'H.' The attacker looked around, as if freaked out by his surroundings. Or lack thereof.

Just him, the concrete ground, and the sky above.

Then, Allie sent in a small bird. A pigeon to land directly in front of him. David's feet were glued to the ground on Allie's account. He could only observe the bird, as it's small stick feet touched the concrete, causing it to crack. The dark webs began striking across the entire roof until pieces began to crumble, disappearing to the air.

David started screaming both in the dream and in the trunk.

Allie waited until the last piece beneath David's feet fell before pulling out of his head completely. She felt like she got pretty good revenge on the man for now. More would have to come later the next time he went to sleep.

"That seemed real harsh," Peter chuckled as David's cries slowed to a stop. Allie calmed her breathing in the back, taking in slow and even breaths. Nightmares had a different affect on her, making her feel the same way her host did at some points during the experience. It was a strange sensation but it didn't bother her, considering she was in control during all parts of the dream.

"Well," Allie stated between breaths, looking pointedly at Peter through the mirror. "Shooting me in the leg was harsh too." Peter nodded in agreement as he finally crossed into Pennsylvania. One step closer to Charles, he thought. Everything was going to be alright once they were in the care of the professor and hopefully Hank and Logan.

Though it would be another five or six hours until they made it.

Two o' clock a.m...

The long day of driving had finally come to a finish, as Peter could see the professor's mansion appear as he came up over the hill. The boy was more than impressed with the sight of it, the school being one of the most immaculate structures he'd ever seen. And he didn't live far from the White House- or rather where it used to be.

As Peter approached the home, he found that there was a tall and brooding gate separating them from the telepath. The mutant sighed, rolling up to the blockage before parking, getting out of the car stiffly. He peeked back inside to find Allie fast asleep across the backseat, her body twisted at an uncomfortable angle. He just made a face at the sight and shut the door softly.

Hurriedly trying to get them inside, Peter sped towards the gate, opening it swiftly. They creaked loudly with the movement, announcing their arrival. The boy stretched for a moment, feeling his legs ache from sitting for so long and then running seconds after standing.

"David better have some fucking answers," he muttered to himself, walking back to the car and hopping in, pulling into the parking lot towards the right of the school.

Once they were situated, Peter shut the car off, turning around with a groan to prod Allie's shoulder. She didn't respond until the boy was practically shoving her, both hands rocking her body into the back cushion.

"Jesus," Allie said, grumpily awakening to slap away the boy's rough hands. Peter just smiled at her attitude and got out of the car, coming around to open the door by her head. "Are we here?" She asked, looking around curiously to find that they were in a parking lot that was surrounding by a well kept yard.

The boy nodded as he helped her up, allowing the girl to slowly move her leg to a less painful position. "Yeah," he said, holding her hand tightly. "Just gotta wake up Charles."

After a struggled moment, the blonde mutant was able to lethargically get out of the car, allowing Peter to wrap his arm around her to help the girl walk. They both regretted not grabbing crutches before their departure from the hospital, as it would have made Allie's time much easier.

The pair plodded towards the large wooden door of the mansion, taking their time to make it up the three stone steps leading to the porch. It was like reaching the finish line when they both finally made it to the door, Allie taking the time to lean against it tiredly.

Peter sighed, standing still for a moment before promptly knocking, hoping that someone would hear in the dead of night. Allie just shook her head at the attempt, holding a hand up to Peter.

"Let me get them," she said, motioning for the boy to help her keep balance. Knowingly Peter stepped over and threw a arm around her waist, helping her to relieve the pressure on her leg.

Then able to concentrate better, Allie reached out to the two minds within the home, absently wondering where Logan was when she came across something powerful. It was like a beam of light in the darkness, but on a whole other level. Without even delving with the mind, Allie knew it was Charles. She could've laughed at the sheer strength that radiated from him. He wasn't lying when he confessed to having the strongest mind in the world.

Curious to see what it felt like to bask in the rays that the professor's mind shot out, Allie jumped into his dreams as if taking a dip in a pool. And then out of nowhere, that said pool rejected her. That was something that Allie didn't expect. It felt as though she was just shut out, like all of her thoughts and ideas were just thrown back at her.

And then came the invasion. Charles' voice echoed inside her head. 'Allie? What are you doing here?' He asked with great confusion. So the man must've sensed that someone was trying to enter his head, luckily he didn't retaliate and instead found that it was the teenager he'd worked with prior.

'Something happened,' the girl mentally sent out to the man, feeling his presence heavy within her mind as she forced the images of the attack forward. A panicked feeling entered her, most likely on account of Charles' emotions being shared with her. Allie frowned, waiting for a response.

'I'll be right down,' the professor's voice returned hurriedly. The girl sighed, peering up at Peter with a thankful smile.

"He's coming," she informed the boy, watching as he too deflated with a relieved sigh. Nodding he listened as there was the clear sound of commotion from behind the doors.

"Good," he mumbled as the front door swung open, Hank standing there wearing pajamas and a worried expression. He looked the mutants up and down, not knowing whether to smile at seeing them or frown at the state they appeared to be bound to.

Allie smiled at the man, feeling his anxiety over the choice in his mind. "Hey Hank, good to see you again," she said with a stiff smile. The Beast shot a grin back, despite being uncomfortable.

"You too, and Peter," he said. The professor rolled around the corner in his wheelchair, looking to Hank with furrowed brows.

"Are you going to make small talk all night or are you going to help them in?" He said exasperatedly. Hank quickly nodded and rushed out to help Allie through the entryway, the girl making it quickly down the hall with the help of the two men. Charles was close on their heels.

"We will settle you two in for the night. Tomorrow we shall discuss what has occurred," Charles called, turning slightly to where his bedroom was. Peter paused, looking back at the man.

"Sounds great, thank you guys for doing this," the boy praised the two men. Allie too turned, looking to both Hank and the professor.

"Yeah, we didn't know who else to go to," she explained with a frown. From behind them the telepath nodded, his own lips downturned as he replayed the images he'd captured from the girl's mind. He was glad that they decided to come to him, as whatever had happened to them was far too serious for anyone else to handle. It would be best that the matter was solved with them.

"I'm glad that I came to mind," the man smiled warmly. "Trust me when I say that I will do whatever I can to sort this out for you both."

The two mutants nodded with appreciation, smiles set onto their faces at the man's words. Feeling tired, the professor rolled into his bedroom, the door shutting on his way inside.

Hank and Peter then both continued down the hall, helping Allie with her injured leg until they came upon a door. "Here we are," the Beast muttered, turning to open up the door. A lavish room was on the other side, and a comforting bed in the middle of it all. Just the sight of it made Allie tired, and she hurriedly began moving into the room. Peter only chuckled slightly at her pull towards it.

"I can show you your room then, Peter," Hank said quietly, watching as Allie sat promptly down on the bed. She looked up at Peter with worry in her eyes, something seeming to dance behind them with anxiety. She didn't want to be alone.

"He can sleep here," she stated quickly, looking to Hank with a wide eyed smile. The Beast nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure," he said, backing out of the room. "Goodnight."

The two mutants called in unison, "goodnight."

Hank nodded and walked off, leaving Allie to finally fall into a deep slumber. She still dreamt of her attack, but then she saw something else after. That night she saw herself alone in a dark chamber, with the man in the olive suit staring maliciously down at her. He held a syringe with dark liquid in it, then another tube with a green paste. Whatever they were, it hurt like hell once injected.

Again, Allie woke up screaming because instead of the dream feeling like her mind messing with her, it felt like something to come.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Peter woke up with a start when he heard Allie screaming again, exactly how their nap in the hospital turned out.

The clock across from her writhing figure read 8:23 a.m.

"Allie, hey, wake up," Peter shook her shoulders gently until she slowly opened her eyes, tears streaking down her face just like they had before. It was so sad to watch for the boy, as he couldn't do anything to protect the girl from the dreams that plagued her. She quickly wiped her eyes and muttered a small, 'sorry.' The mutant beside her pulled the girl to him in a heart warming gesture. "Why do you keep having these nightmares?" Peter asked, brushing his fingers through the tangled gray knots of his hair with worry. Allie, took a few deep breaths, placing her leg back on the pillow that they laid out the night before. Her thrashing around made the leg ache worse, like the bullet was never even removed.

"I have been having them for the past three years. They don't go away," Allie whispered as he brushed the hair out of her face, slick with sweat from the night terrors. Peter never knew it was that bad. Three years of recurring dreams sounded dreadful, especially in the way that Allie appeared to receive them. They'd have to be worse than what the girl let on, since she screamed like she was being murdered until she finally woke up.

"It's alright. Nothing's going to happen. I can open a can of whoop ass on anyone," Peter reassured the girl, smiling into her hair as he watched a hurried Charles wheel into the room. The gray haired mutant frowned as he observed the man, remembering how he'd found that Charles couldn't walk.

"I heard her scream. Is everything alright?" Charles asked, his voice trembling slightly. He seemed to gain instant relief at seeing Allie untouched and safe in Peter's arms, yet held a tone of caution. He could feel the strong bursts of fear coming from the young mutant.

"I'm fine Charles. Thank you. Just a dream..." Allie told the older man, shooting him a soft smile to prove she was alright. Though she didn't feel so. The telepath could sense her uncertainty, like reading an open book. Though he only nodded, deciding not to point out that she was definitely not okay.

"Perfect, might you join us for breakfast then?" The professor asked right as Hank entered the room, hands in his pockets. He smiled at the teenagers, finding that their embracing forms endearing.

"Sure," Allie said, throwing the covers off her lap, waiting for Peter to zoom around the bed and help her up. Charles only smiled at the sight of the two young mutants so close after their trip to the Pentagon, since that was the last time he saw the pair working together. It rushed the telepath with a nostalgic sense of mind. He'd wish him and Erik, Raven and all the other mutants could just be like the two before him. He yearned to feel the sweet bond they used to have.

But yet he knew that it would most likely never be what it was ever again. Erik was too obsessed over the rise of the mutant race and forming his army of angry mutants to care. Then Raven, well, she was doing whatever she chose to do. It was difficult to keep track of all she was accomplishing in her time.

"You two sleep well?" Hank spoke up, holding the door open for Peter and Allie as they shuffled through and out into the hallway, Charles following them closely behind. He observed the difficulty it took for Allie to move even with the help of Peter. The telepath would need to look into crutches for the blonde girl. She certainly shouldn't have to depend on the other boy for help every time she wanted to go somewhere.

"Pretty decent I'd say," Peter said, his eyebrows knitted together when he thought about how Allie probably didn't have too nice of a slumber, judging by the nightmares. The girl next to him nodded to herself, as if agreeing with his thoughts.

"Great," Hank mused, falling back slightly to walk next to Charles. The telepath chuckled lightly, sending out a message to the Beast.

'Your conversation skills are dreadful,' he told him. Hank narrowed his eyes and looked over to the grinning telepath with an offended smile.

'Whatever,' he sent the man back, watching as they came up on the dining room.

"To your right," Charles said to the mutants. "Hank will prepare our meals."

The Beast sighed, walking into the kitchen that was adjacent to the other room. Charles followed the pair to the table, seating himself at the end as he always did.

"I apologize for his… poor conversation," the professor chuckled.

Peter just smirked and helped Allie to her seat, holding her hands for support. Once she was situated, the mutant slid in the chair beside her, observing as Charles clasped his hands together before him. The telepath could feel Peter's anticipation to ask what happened in regards to his legs, though the boy bit his tongue.

"You can ask Peter. I don't mind," the professor said with a comforting smile. The gray haired mutant propped his head up with his fist in a thoughtful manner.

"Last time I saw you Charles, you were walkin'," Peter said, taking off his silver jacket. It smelled a little gross from constant use, and adding the day trip of driving.

"Well, when you last saw me, I was injected with a drug which stimulated the nerves in my legs. Though it took away the symptoms of my mutation, unfortunately," Charles explained, his hands clasped in front of him professionally. Allie could really see the professor image about him, like he was meant for the title and occupation.

"Wow, I never knew that. But I'm glad you've got the telepathy back," Peter sighed, looking out the window at the rental Chevy. And it suddenly dawned on him that David was still taped in the trunk. The man never got a bite or an ounce of water their whole trip to New York. "Shit, I'll be back."

Allie flinched when Peter zoomed outside, unknowing of where he rushed off to. She looked at the professor questioningly, hoping that maybe he'd read the boy's thoughts. Charles returned the confusion and waited patiently until Peter returned seconds later with a bloodied man within his arms. The mutant tiredly propped David up in a vacant seat beside the telepath and returned to his own.

Charles had a slightly disapproving gaze as he looked between the man and then the two young mutants. But then his mind countered the intial thoughts and he figured it was just a jab at the attacker for… well… attacking.

"We were hoping you could figure out what he's been up to," Allie told Charles as Hank strode into the dining room with three plates balanced in his arms. The chef paused, staring at their new, bloodied guest. He then turned to the professor.

"Should I get him something to eat?" Hank asked, his eyes only leaving David's slumped form for a second, to peer quizzically at the telepath. What had he missed?

"Yes, might as not allow our only hope of figuring out what is going on, starve to death," Charles said, turning to give a sweet smile at the teenagers. Peter and Allie just shrugged with sheepish smiles and dug into their breakfast. Eggs and sausage, yum.

Hank returned to the room with two more plates, and he carefully set one down on David's place mat. Then he sat at the other end of the table, trying to get as much distance between him and the mystery man as possible.

The four ate their meals in silence until David slowly prodded awake and looked around the room, like he was still stuck in a dream. Charles seemed to be the only one who noticed the man's shift from asleep to wide awake and spoke up, more politely than what everyone else expected.

"Why hello there. Welcome to my home. My name is Charles Xavier and I believe you shot one of my friends here in the leg," David just blinked, unmoving. "Would you mind telling me why exactly you've harmed her." Charles asked, waving his fork in the general direction of Allie, who set all her utensils down to observe the sight before her.

David just looked wordlessly between all the mutants.

Peter set down his fork and knife and gave the man the most menacing look he could muster. His dark eyes practically ripped David inside out, making him fidget slightly. In fact, everyone was looking at him expectantly.

"You're going to tell us why you've shot Allie," Charles demanded, his hands clasped once again before him. His sharp blue eyes must've made something click in David's head, whether it was the telepathy or just the sheer commanding tone the professor used.

"I work for an organization that does extensive research of mutations. We take mutants against their will to complete these procedures. Allison Gertrude Simmons was just one of the many on our list," David explained, almost robotically. It was a strange occurrence but Allie brushed it off as Charles' evident mind control.

"And what is this organization called?" The professor asked, raising his eyebrow.

"The project is called Weapon X," David hummed, looking over to find Peter once again staring at him, his dark gaze never wavered. The attacker quickly looked away and back to Charles who had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"And what exactly do you intend to get out of these experiments?" The telepath questioned, leaning back in his chair, brows furrowed as he mulled over the new information.

"We are enhancing mutant abilities for military purposes," David told the mutants with a nod. Allie began to shudder at the thought. She remembered her dream from that morning, with the man in the suit standing over her broken figure with the two mystery liquids within syringes. Then he injected her with one of them, and it was like acid flowing through her veins. Allie couldn't help but feel that whatever the substance was, it did the enhancing David spoke of.

But how could her powers become any bit more enhanced? Will she make the boogeyman of people's minds come to life and physically haunt them? Maybe that's why this organization wanted her- to do these terrible things. To find out how her abilities could possibly be boosted, to become more effective. More dangerous.

Peter could sense Allie's clear discomfort and grasped her hand gently beneath the table, giving it a small squeeze of reassurance. The blonde only looked to him with a soft, unconvincing smile that in turn made the boy frown more.

"Has there been any good results yet?" Charles asked, already knowing the answer in the back of his mind.

"No, we are only in early testing. We haven't come up with a substantial enhancer," the telepath sighed in relief, though he felt terrible for those which would become victim to whoever the men were behind this Weapon X. They'd have to endure whatever unstable substance they jammed into their bodies, unknowing of its effectiveness. Hell, it could possibly make the mutants die on the spot. That's why they were gathering lab rats.

"Very well. Go to sleep," Charles sighed, looking to David before he fell with a thud on the dinner table, his face landing in the uneaten food before him. Allie jumped and clutched Peter's hand harder, staring at the professor with wide eyes. He was the only one who would probably give a good chunk of advice concerning what to do, where to go, in their situation.

Just because the attack was aimed to Allie, didn't mean Peter was in danger as well. In fact, every mutant was in some form of danger with this organization and it's hitmen running around, capturing whatever superhumans they could find.

The entire predicament was sad and seemed hopeless, as it appeared to be something much bigger than the teenagers. There were so many other mutants that were probably already held up in dark cells, against their wills, waiting for some psycho doctors to come and experiment on them. Allie couldn't save them all, no matter how hard she tried to warn her genetically equal brothers and sisters. It wasn't possible.

"What are we going to do?" Peter asked the professor, like he had all the answers.

"You're going to call your parents and tell them you're staying with a friend for a few days. We will figure out what to do later. For now, I'll take care of David," with that, Charles made a shooing motion to the two mutants, then looked at Hank who'd been relatively silent during the interrogation. "Help them to the phone, then find your way back here as soon as possible."

Hank nodded and followed Allie and Peter out into the hall where he gestured to their wall phone just outside the professor's study.

"There you go, though it'll be pretty crackly, calling all the way up here," Hank told them, giving a nod of good luck almost before walking away, back into the kitchen.

Allie then turned to Peter, leaning against the wall so she could remain off her leg and grabbing the phone off it's throne, punching in her house number. Hopefully her mother wouldn't freak out that she hadn't been home for a day, as the woman had the tendency to be overprotective ever since the whole White House thing. She'd just say she stayed over at a friends house. Even though her only friend was a guy. Named Peter.

The mutant didn't know how her mother would take sleeping over at a guy's house. But it was her only option. Allie only ever talked to Peter, which her mother was aware of. So maybe she'd be a little more forgiving due to that fact.

"Hello?" The sound of her mother's voice came in a little faded, though still easily decipherable.

"Hey mom I-" Allie could barely get out her words before her mom practically sang statements of relief.

"Oh god. Thank you. Allison, you know I don't like you to be out of my sights since… the incident. Where are you?" Peter could hear Allie's mother a little bit, and wondered silently what 'the incident' was. Perhaps she meant the whole shit fest down in D.C.

"I- I am with Peter. I slept over at his house last night. It got late and I didn't want to walk home," Allie stuttered, her cheeks growing red a little at the look Peter was giving her, and then with what her mother said thereafter.

"Are you sure that isn't the only reason?" Mrs. Simmons said, and Peter couldn't help but snort at the response. He greatly enjoyed the moment as Allie's face became as red as a tomato. So much so that he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to add emphasis to the embarrassment. Allie only hunched slightly at the touch as she fought for a reasonable answer to her mother's question.

"I- er… uh… yes. Wait, no. I don't know. Mom I was just tired. That's all. Quit bugging me on it. Jeez," Allie's mom just cackled on the other end, making the phone fade in and out. Peter was laughing right along with the older woman, his arm still around the girl's tense shoulders.

"Okay, do you know when you'll be back?" Her mother asked, finally stopping with the snickers. Allie paled slightly and looked at Peter, knowing he heard the question. He just nodded to Allie, holding his hand out to take the phone.

"Hello Mrs. Simmons," Peter greeted the older woman cheerfully.

"Why hello there, last I heard you speak you hung up in a flash," she said with a playful tone in her voice. Peter remembered the day Allie was down in D.C. and he had called her house, only to find she wasn't there. Then he hung up on her mother to continue watching the broadcast in which he could see the little blonde girl in.

"Yeeah, sorry 'bout that. I was in a bit of a rush," Peter apologized sheepishly, ducking into the phone to scuff his shoes on the carpet. Allie stood by wobbly on her one leg, listening to their conversation. So he must've tried to confirm she really was in D.C.

Allie thought it was a little endearing and smiled fondly at the boy. She felt at ease knowing that Peter could be the greatest jokester of all time, but when it came down to it, he could be as level headed and serious as any other man out there.

"It's alright, a lot happened that day. I'm just glad Allie was alright," the older woman sighed, the relief from that day as her daughter came home still evident in her voice. She recalled how she was banging the television set, screwing with the antennas and waiting for the signal to come back in when she was met with the small figure of her daughter on T.V.

It had been quite the shock as she watched the mutant begin to cry, speaking to the strange blue woman in front of her.

When Peter brought her home later that day, Allie's mother fell to tears. She thought she'd almost lost two of her most loved people in one week.

"Yeah," Peter smiled looking Allie straight in the eyes. "I'm glad she was alright too," he basked in his mental accomplishment at seeing the tinge that made it's way to the blonde's face. For some reason, seeing her flustered sent him into some sort of frenzy. There was some warmth inside him whenever he saw her smile, or in this instance, blush for something he said.

"I'm happy you agree," Allie's mother said, Peter could sense her smiling all they way back home. "So, is she staying there a little longer, considering she handed the phone to you?" The woman asked, already guessing his proposal of Allie staying over another night.

"Yeah of course, as long as you're okay with it Mrs. Simmons," Peter said, being the little suck up he is.

"You know what, I've got a good vibe coming from you. So yeah, it's okay with me," Allie's mom admitted to the young man. Peter had always taken good care of her daughter, even in the small three or four months they've know each other. It was almost as if they'd met one another a life time ago, considering their bond already. It always made the older woman smile and watch them together. She could tell one day it was going to be more than a friendship… which she was also okay with. But one step at a time.

"That's great. Thank you so much," Peter smiled, still looking at Allie. She smiled as well and held her hand out for the phone. "Alrighty, see ya later Mrs. Simmons."

"Bye bye, Peter."

"Hey mom. Love you," Allie said, grabbing onto Peter's shoulder as she lost her balance. He quickly snaked an arm around her waist helping her to stay straight.

"I love you too Allison," her mother sighed, making it sound almost as if she may cry. "You're growing up too fast you know. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do over there," she warned, laughing a little with her statement.

"I won't mom. I've gotta go, bye."

"Bye."

And that was it. Allie hung the phone back up and looked to Peter who seemed to not have taken his eyes off her the entire day. The blonde gave him an inquisitive look, like he had something on his mind that he needed to tell her.

"Are you alright?" She asked him, leaning a bit closer. Peter just nodded but continued to stare at the girl before himself. He was realizing a few hidden secrets within himself in that very moment. But they weren't ready to be said aloud. Not yet.

"Okay." Allie said a little unconvinced but just brushed it off. "We've got another phone call to make."

Later...

"Moooooooooooooom. I won't," Peter whined, throwing his head back as it was Allie's turn to listen to his conversation.

"Peter seriously. I know how much you eat at home, don't raid their pantries," his mother commanded, knowing that the boy ate probably the size of a horse in stolen pastries everyday. She didn't want him to get hungry and eat whatever the Simmons had in their stock.

"I won't mom, it's fine," Peter said, groaning a little. Allie couldn't stop laughing at the way they were with each other. It was something real typical for a mother and a son.

"Good. Now I think I've kept you long enough. I love you," his mother said. Peter just gave a soft smile.

"Love you too mom. Bye," then the boy hung the phone up. They'd spent about 45 minutes out in the hall talking to their parents, having the same banter of not doing anything their mothers wouldn't do. But finally, they could go back to find what Charles had done with David.

Allie beckoned Peter to follow her, in which he did with his arm still around her for support. Once they reached the kitchen entrance, the pair realized that neither the professor nor Hank were in there. There was no trace of David either. The mutants just looked at each other, mirroring both their confused expressions.

"Charles?" Allie called out, the pair moving further down the hallway.

"Come down into the living room." Charles replied from further away. There was a big entrance just down the hall, which must've been where the living quarters were.

"Ah, hello there. Parents comply?" The professor asked the pair when they walked in. They just nodded with smiles on their faces. "Perfect. If you couldn't tell you're going to be here for a little bit. Hank has clean clothes in the bedroom for you both. We will wash your other ones."

"Thanks Charles," Allie said, happy with how well the professor was warmed up to the mutants. She supposed it was just how he was wired to act, considering he used to school entire classes of mutants as young as them.

Peter just gave the older man a thankful nod and walked out with Allie beside him, up to the bedroom.

"Well, I'm going to have to say goodbye to my Pink Floyd shirt," Peter sighed as they made their way into the room. There were two neat piles of clothing which consisted of a normal sweater, slacks and socks for Peter. Then a long sleeved dress for Allie.

"And I, my Beach Boys shirt," the blonde hummed, examining the dress. It was a dark green and had a scooped neckline, with little strings in the seam to tie together if need be. It was a rather cute outfit. Perhaps, Allie thought, it belonged to Raven at one point. She knew sometime in history her and Charles were very close, like, brother and sister close. He'd talked about it fondly on their way to the Pentagon, during the planning.

"I guess we are both sacrificing our favorite band tees," Peter sighed, fake crying and wiping his eyes. "Do we seriously only wear band tees, but just different variations of the same group?" He asked then, holding up the sweater. It looked like it was going to be a little small on him.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's us," Allie chuckled and hopped to the little door in the corner of the room. She found there was bathroom behind it. "I'm gonna change in here. Lemme know when you're done so I don't walk out on you or something ridiculous," Peter just smiled mischievously at the girl with his eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Why would you wanna miss out on this?" He asked, weaving his hand up and down through the air, along his torso.

Allie just stared at him. Peter had gotten her good in the elevator, so much so that she didn't know how to react. But not this time, no. Allie would get the last laugh.

"Who said I wanted to miss out on it," she said, shooting the boy her very own suggestive smile, set with the hoisted eyebrows. Peter paused his hand movements and cocked his head. Allie just shook her own head and trotted into the bathroom, almost closing the door when she heard:

"Done," of course.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Peter really liked it when Allie wore dresses. Like, a lot. The day before she wore a pretty green one that somehow made her brown eyes just pop and her hair seem every bit more golden. But that day, it was even better. Because the dress was absolutely Allie.

She wore a short sky blue dress that turned to flowy ripples just after the waist. If Peter had to comment on how well it looked, he'd say it was perfect. He swore he gawked at her like a lovesick puppy all day without an ounce of shame.

When Allie was talking on the phone with her mother after Peter finished his little spiel with the woman, her daughter spoke the three little magical words.

'I love you.'

And Peter couldn't help himself in that moment. All his built up feelings for Allison just came gushing into his brain. It was like breaking a dam. He listened to her speak those words so softly, so smoothly. He'd wanted Allie to say those exact ones to him someday. Peter could already say he loved the other mutant, but just not yet to the level in which he wished.

He'd only say it if he knew Allie felt the same way. And the only way to find that out was to either ask the girl herself… or to, you know, get the telepath you've been staying with to find out for you.

"Hey Charles. I've got a biiiiig favor for you," Peter said, strolling into the telepath's study, tentatively closing the door behind him. The professor only looked up briefly before continuing to read, though with a small curious smile splayed on his lips.

"And what would that be?" The older man asked, finally setting down his book. Peter didn't even know if he'd accept, considering Charles seemed to be the kind of man who'd have the decency to not peer into the unsuspecting minds of others.

"I- well… don't- don't laugh at me. But I wanna know… if… Allie-" The boy was cut off by the professor who was smiling very widely by then.

"Likes you the same way you do her," Charles said with a laugh. He then looked up at Peter a little more seriously in the eye. "It wouldn't surprise me if she liked you more."

Peter felt a little weak in the knees at that one. Well damn.

"Really?" The boy asked, coming to plop down into one of the chairs in front of Charles' desk. Yep, his knees were not cooperating with him.

"I am very serious. Whenever I see you two together, I can sense your feelings radiating like a bonfire," Charles explained, leaning an elbow on the hardwood. "And it is very intense," Peter just chuckled by the dramatism in the man's voice.

"So you think I'd have a chance," Peter said, feeling more confident than ever in that moment. But then Charles sadly shook his head, like he was ready to just come down and mess the mutant's day up. Which he did.

"Look, Allie is a bit different from other girls. She for one hasn't realized her feelings, because she's never had them before. And well, you've got to understand that it would maybe put her at bit of a unease if you sprang out and mauled her like you're thinking," Charles said matter of factly, tapping his temple. He knew exactly what Peter was thinking.

The mutant across from him nodded slowly, letting it sink in. So what he was saying is that Allie needed more time. Until she began to mirror all the hard feelings.

"How long should I wait then?" Peter questioned, staring off at a pencil sitting on the desk in deep thought.

"You'll know the right time, trust me on that one," Charles said, his soft smile still plastered to his face. Peter just sighed and decided that it'd be better to discuss more important and trivial matters. Like what they were to do about the gunman and all his friends. Including the big boss guy behind the project that they've failed to figure out the identity of.

It was almost as if the only thing the hitmen ever saw were lousy, unimportant things just for the situation. So no telepaths could retain any hard clues. Sneaky bastards.

"So, what are we gonna do with this whole other ordeal, with my favorite guy on earth," Peter said sarcastically, sinking a little further into his seat.

In all honesty, Charles was a little at loss. Whenever he'd try to see substantial clues or evidence to lead them in the direction of the people orchestrating this Weapon X project, he came up empty.

David Hallmen was just some disposable pawn that wasn't allowed to see the more important details of his cause. The only images that came out of his head were that of men in suits, wearing dark sunglasses in an even darker room. Then, these said men just handed David a paper with a list of names and their corresponding addresses. That was it. The only clue in which Charles could uncover from David's mind.

The lack of idea was quite frustrating.

"I'm sorry to say, Peter, but we'd need more clues to lead us in the right direction," Charles said, sounding a little hopeless. They knew the motive of the project: to take mutants and use them as weapons. But it wasn't enough. "Though I can assure you, I am here if anything else turns up."

Peter felt a little angry with the entire situation. Not at Charles or Hank, just these people behind 'Weapon X.' Who were they to just abduct mutants (no matter how young considering Allie was just 16) and make them a part of their experiment, unwillingly. And his girl was just another one of those targeted because of something genetic. Something she, all of them, couldn't control.

Peter just nodded stiffly, then sighed. "What are we going to do with David?" He asked the professor, who had a small smile on his face.

"I'm going to make him treat our gardens," Peter snorted. They were going to just mind sweep a hitman and give him the new and improved job of a gardener. The hell?

"Well, that's a great idea," Peter commented while slowly standing up, straightening out his sweater which barely made it over his belt. It looked absolutely ridiculous. Didn't Charles realize he had a bit smaller form than Peter? Apparently not...

"So, does that mean we leave tonight?" The younger mutant asked, fighting with the sweater as he stretched out. Charles just watched Peter struggle for a few seconds until he nodded, a little solemnly.

"I'm afraid so. I've booked a flight for you both," the telepath said, right as a look of distress came over Peter's features.

"Wait a minute, what about my car?" The Chevy was still outside, waiting ever so patiently for another ride out in the open road, all the way back home. He'd be devastated to leave it.

"Your car?" Charles countered, raising his eyebrows at the boy. There was no way. Not only could the telepath see that the car was clearly stolen from the leaking images of Peter's mind, but also it wasn't very… Maximoff-ish to just buy a car when you can get one for free without being seen taking it.

"Okay, okay. Ya got me professor."

The plane flight...

Allie sighed, letting her head fall to Peter's shoulder. He was still wearing the ridiculously small sweater which Charles had loaned him.

"How are you even comfortable in that thing?" The blonde asked him, pinching the fabric between her fingers. It was soft though, if only it was two or three sizes bigger...

"I'm not even sure. I'm probably going to attempt to change in the bathroom at some point," Peter said, frowning at having to try and remove the tiny sweater in the even tinier bathroom in the back corner of the plane. He could only imagine how horrible that escapade would be.

"Yeah, I miss your jacket," Allie sighed, closing her eyes.

"I don't miss your Beach Boys shirts," Peter muttered, not intending for Allie to hear him. He was still majorly hung up on the dresses.

"What was that, Peter?" Allie asked, legitimately confused.

"I like… when you wear… dresses," Peter coughed a little through his words, but Allie heard him all the same. She couldn't help the big smile coming to her face. Did Peter just admit to liking the way she looked in dresses? Hm, interesting. That was the cue for the butterflies.

"Well, thank you. I'll be sure to wear them more often then," the girl hummed and Peter perked a little. That went a little better than he thought. Actually, a lot better. She'd wear more dresses, just for him.

"Good," was all the mutant responded with, allowing his head to fall back against the seat. It was only going to be another hour until they landed, and he had every intention of taking a much needed nap.

One hour later...

"Peter wake up, we're here," Allie prodded the boy awake, pulling at his long hair a little. The other mutant just groaned, feeling like he'd slept for ten years in the one little hour. His eyes were practically pasted shut.

"Ugh, already. Now I gotta fight to get your crutches," Peter moaned, waiting for all the passengers to get up and leave the plane until he stood up, reaching for the folded up sticks. Thank god for Hank, that crafty young man. The mutant took it upon himself to forge Allie her very own crutches, in which had the perfect capability of collapsing together for the flight home.

Peter quickly clicked the joints down and ta-da, full crutches. He helped Allie stand up and situate herself until she was ready to hop off the plane.

After they'd finally left the airport, and came out onto the road, the pair realized they would in fact need a car to drive the rest of the way home.

Unless...

"Do you think your leg will get sore if I run us home? I know the way now, since the last time we were here," Peter said, turning to the girl beside him, who was balancing stiffly. She found it weird using crutches instead of Peter. Personally, she preferred the other mutant over the contraptions. They hurt her underarms… and well, she just liked it when Peter was around to help.

"Well, I don't know. Will the pressure make it worse?" Allie questioned, looking up at the boy. He frowned.

"Yeah probably. Ugh, I didn't want to have to steal another car. Hold on a second," and then Peter was gone in a flash, and soon enough a 1972 edition Camaro rolled up beside Allie, with a happy gray haired mutant plopped straight in the driver's seat. "Here we goooo."

Peter flashed the girl a bright smile and sped out of the car to help her inside. Allie decided that time she would sit in the passenger's seat so she'd be able to man the radio. The mutant wasn't going to deal with Peter's strange taste for the classical radio.

Once the folded crutches were thrown into the back seat and the two mutants were buckled in, Peter floored it out of the airport, heading straight home.

As they came nearer and nearer to their long street, the fact that she would have to explain the gun wound in her leg dawned on Allie like a punch in the gut. There was no way she could just say she just fractured it or something. Mrs. Simmons asked too many questions and would get to the bottom of the suspicious wound in her shin. Plus, her mother would be angry with Peter for not taking better care of Allie.

Ugh.

"What am I supposed to say to my mom about the hole in my leg?" Allie asked, squinting over at Peter tiredly. He just frowned. Shit. He hadn't thought of that at all. Now Allie's mom was going to hate him and probably orchestrate his murder within the next week.

If anything, Peter saved Allie. But what were they supposed to say? Allie got shot by a man, but it's okay, cause Peter shot him back and drove him up to New York where he became a tree trimmer. That was probably the most ridiculous story ever told, but it was surprisingly all true. Who'd believe them?

"Agh, I- I...don't know," Peter sighed. "Maybe I can just call your mom and tell her we are getting married and moving to Hawaii," Allie looked to the boy weirdly after that very elaborate solution to all their problems. Peter just looked back, mentally pleading for a good reaction. If she didn't retch at the thought of marrying him, that had to be a good sign. Right?

Jeez, he didn't know what he was doing anymore.

"Um, sure," Allie said slowly with a cautious nod. "Why Hawaii?" She asked as Peter hesitantly pulled into her driveway, yet again barely dodging her broken down buggy. He really needed to come out and fix it up for her. And well, for him too. The mutant really wanted to cruise around in Velma.

"Because, why not," Peter responded, his face completely serious. Allie just gave him another odd look of amusement.

"Alright," the blonde quipped, allowing her face to tinge a little red at the mention of them being a couple. A married one at that. Peter just nodded, his face no longer straight, but littered with a soft smile. His eyes were steadily on the girl before him.

He really wanted to kiss her, but the professor's words echoed annoyingly in his mind. Was Allie really ready? Peter wanted her to be but he would in no way throw himself onto her. She didn't deserve that and Peter knew better than to step over that very unforgiving and awkward line.

"Do you think you can help me out?" Allie asked Peter, breaking his little moment of consideration.

"Sure thing," he piped up, zooming out of the car, standing in front of Allie with the crutches already in his hands. The blonde smiled and stepped out with Peter's helping hand within hers, until she was able to balance with the crutches.

"Alright, well I'll probably call you tomorrow. Tell you how things go, okay?" Allie said, slowly making her way up the gravelly path to the front door. Peter was cautiously by her side, one hand hovering carefully just above her back in case she somehow tripped.

"Okey dokey. I'll be waiting, at exactly noon. Don't try any of that fashionably late shit," Peter demanded jokingly, leaning with one hand against the door frame. Allie just looked to him with a laugh.

"Not everyone can be as fast as you Maximoff," the blonde said trying the knob, finding that the door was unlocked. Mom must've been home.

"Yeah well, sometimes I'm late y'know. And it's for the worst things..." the other mutant sighed a little sadly, peering down at Allie's injured leg. The girl looked up at him, slightly disappointed he'd think that way of himself. She put a hand on his shoulder, making him look down to her.

"Hey, don't think like that. You weren't late at all. If you had been, I'd already be drugged up in some underground lab or something," Allie just smiled at him, letting Peter know that she was in no way upset with his apparent tardiness in stopping the gunman. That situation was out of his hands, and there was no way it could've been done quicker.

"Thanks," Peter whispered, pulling Allie's hand which had been on his shoulder, behind him, making the girl fall into his arms. They both relaxed in each other's embrace, feeling at home just where they were.

"Welcome..." Allie whispered as well. Though it was muffled into Peter's sweater unfitted. He'd fell asleep before being able to attempt changing in the tiny airborne bathroom, which was probably for the best.

If Peter thought it was hard before to resist closing the distance between him and Allie, he was learning something far more worse in that moment. They were so close and it would be so easy to just duck down and-

Nope, if he thought about it he'd just have to walk away before he did anything he'd regret. Peter couldn't go any longer.

The mutants pulled away from each other their last exchange for a many of years were just two soft smiles.

Peter walked down the long driveway and hopped in his stolen Camaro, watching as Allie seemingly made it safely inside her door. All by herself too, he'd observed with the grin still on his face. He could tell that Allie was getting closer and closer to finally sharing Peter's feelings. It would only be a matter of time before the right moment came, where the pair could actually express their feelings for eachother.

But… within the Simmons home, Allie closed her front door, only to feel the barrel of a gun press roughly yet slowly against her forehead.

"If you try to get into my head, I'll blow off yours," the man hiding behind the weapon spoke up, waiting for some sort accepting gesture from his new hostage. Allie didn't move for a few moments, but the warm barrel pushed even harder against her head, making her nod shakily.

Why was the barrel warm?

Allie began to mentally panic as the shadowed man shooed his gun into the direction of the couch, where the mutant crutched herself to, sitting down carefully so as not to startle the armed man. Then, the figure turned slightly into their kitchen, his gun never leaving it's line straight between Allie's eyes.

"Mrs. Simmons?" The man called in a deep yet clear voice. Something about him was so familiar to Allie. She was trying to desperately figure it out, until the stranger's face happened to come upon the moonlight shining through their window.

It was the man from the White House, the one that she suspected was behind the attack. And something told Allie he was finally going to succeed.

Mrs. Simmons trembled as she shuffled through the open doorway, waiting for his order until she took a seat beside Allie. The woman made no move to hug her daughter, or speak to her in any way. The kidnapper was too dangerous. He'd shoot the both of them if he sensed them making a plan, even if they didn't try to conspire against him. There was no risk taking in the profession as this man's hostage.

There were no words exchanged between them as he slowly reached into his second holster, which the mother and daughter had only noticed then. The stranger wielded this other weapon, which looked to be a little different from what Allie assumed was the real gun.

This mystery weapon had to be a tranquilizer.

Again, no words as he shot the both of them in the neck skillfully, like he'd done it a thousand times before.

Before Allie could fall unconscious, the man came up and knelt down beside her, brushing her hair over her shoulder so she'd be able to hear his voice clearly.

"When you wake up, you can call me Stryker," that was the last thing she heard before falling asleep- a greatly nightmare induced sleep.

The next day...

She was fashionably late. Ugh.

Peter could distinctly remember warning Allie to call on time. He really wanted to just hear her voice again. It was like listening to… chocolate… melt? Whatever it compared to, Peter liked it and craved it, heh, kind of like chocolate.

So the mutant waited, and waited, annnnnd waited. Very patiently just in case Allie was like, hormonal or something and didn't give a shit about talking to him at noon sharp. But something was nagging greatly at Peter. Maybe something happened...

Before he could even think more about possibilities, Peter decided to just stop by Allie's house. It was quarter of three anyhow. That was a little while after noon if you asked him.

So within about three seconds, more or less, Peter came upon Allie's red and white home. Nothing looked very suspicious, but usually the front yard laid unscathed with the Simmons.

Three knocks. Three more knocks. Nothing.

Usually Peter could hear some shuffling or the television when he picked up Allie to take a trip to the park, but for some reason that time there were no tell tale signs that the mother and daughter duo were inside the home. It was almost as if it was abandoned. Strange.

Peter tried the knob and found it open. Not unusual he supposed, since the door had been unlocked the night before for Allie.

But when Peter did a typical quick sweep of the entire home, even their really creepy fucking basement, there were no signs of the Simmons. Where could they have gone?

Peter felt a bit hurt that Allie hadn't told him that she would be gone that day, but maybe her mom had plans in the morning and she couldn't call quickly enough. Though these little fabrications began to unsatisfy Peter, and just made him even more paranoid of where his girl and her mom had gone to.

That's when Peter noticed a sheet of perfectly crisp white paper lying on the glass coffee table. It was placed so tediously, like someone had taken the exact dimensions of the table top just to place the paper smack in the center.

Peter took a seat on their rather comfy couch and picked up the sheet, only to let his heart sink to the core of the earth.

You're next Peter.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

William Stryker was never really intimidated by telepaths. That is, until he discovered who Charles Xavier was thanks to the White House incident. Over and over again he'd watched the news recordings of the little British man seemingly taking control of those around him, even going as far as freezing a group of men within the President's not so secret bunker. Luckily, Stryker was long gone and out of the hellish stadium before such a fiasco.

Then, William began to page through the CIA files on their bright mind reading fellow. An Oxford student. Professor. Had his own damn mansion in New York. And, lived with another mechanical genius, who'd built something called Cerebro.

There wasn't very much info on the tab of the meticulous design, yet it was still extremely menacing. The small paragraph describing the invention read:

Cerebro enhances the brainwaves of it's user. This allows trained telepaths to have the ability to see all beings who live on the earth. These people are categorized visually by 'mutant' and 'human.' Only the user may speak with these beings if they so wished to communicate. The process can become dangerous for the user if not skilled in their capabilities or are a non-telepath.

Though the small segment didn't provide much, it still gave the key items. Charles Xavier could find anyone he wanted. Literally anyone.

William had been very aware of the fact that Allison had met with Charles a few days prior to her immediate capture, as given to them through David's tracking chip. Which dangerously meant, Xavier knew her, and it wouldn't take long for him to seek her out, since he'd most likely been inside the young girl's mind. No doubts about it.

So that got Stryker thinking. How can they keep Allison's mind from being in the hold of Charles Xavier's strong telepath abilities?

It comes back to the news recordings. Mystique, another prime target, took off Erik Lensherr's helmet, which then seemingly allowed Charles to step into the metal manipulators mind like he was walking into his own home. That meant that whatever the helmet was made of, it could stop telepaths from reaching the mind of whoever wore it.

And that whole day long investigation brought Stryker where he was then, talking with one of his engineering scientists, hoping to get a nice little blueprint from him by the next day of this new helmet for Allison.

"I don't know what metal is used for Leshnerr's, but I want you to find out. I expect something exceptional by tomorrow night at the latest," William told the man, Gregory Brahms, his name tag read. They couldn't waste any time because Allie's little squeeze, Peter fucking Maximoff, would probably run to Charles the second he got the chance to. Which was most certainly soon, since the kid didn't know how to keep to himself.

"Yes sir," Greg accepted the few pictures thrown to him by William, displaying the helmet worn on Erik, then a little grimey picture of it behind a glass encasing beside a few other trophies from slain mutants.

Stryker just nodded, feeling real smug in his new position. Trask was arrested and he was now in charge. It was a real dream come true.

"Oh and Gregory, make sure she can't get it off," William called from down the hallway, making the engineer turn with a malicious smile and a nod, before walking into the workshop. It was time to pay a visit to Allison.

A few minutes later...

A loud hissing sounded, followed by the scrapes of metal against metal awoke Allie from her terrifying sleep. She saw Peter and her mother die over and over again, and she couldn't wake up like she usually did. The mutant had to suffer through each ongoing scene, different than the last in morbidly creative ways.

"You're awake, that's good," Stryker observed, closing the door loudly behind himself. There was a gun in his hand as he approached her. "Same thing kid, I shoot if you get in my head," then he raised the weapon to Allie's head for added emphasis before he sat on the thin mattress in the corner of the cell.

Allie looked around, seeing a simple sink and toilet, then the bed. Luckily for her, there was no peeking window in the door which Stryker had walked in from. So then she had a little privacy when she needed to relieve herself. Though being able to pee without someone watching her didn't stop the feeling of being terribly violated in that moment. Allie was kidnapped. She had been drugged and brought to whatever place- facility, she was trapped within.

But there was someone with her. It was Allie's mother.

"Where's my mom?" Allie asked, not trying to hide how desperate she sounded. Stryker just cocked his head, a little happy that the girl was loyal to her family. That'd make good soldier material, being around for her 'family' before herself. William had tracked down a good one.

"On the other side of the complex. We know you can't reach very far with your mutation," Stryker informed the girl, a victorious smirk on his face. By then, after quite a few months of evaluating Allison carefully, he knew just about everything.

"Y-you didn't take Peter did you?" The mutant then questioned, shakily. She propped herself up against the wall, still feeling drowsy from whatever the small dart put in her body.

William cautiously waited for her to get situated, before she looked him in the eyes. How strange. They usually didn't get so confident so quickly.

Allison was very inquisitive. Most just bawled their eyes out and some others made invalid and rather weak threats. But there was something different about Simmons. She wasn't like the others. Maybe it was because she was young. Only 16. There were only a select few around the mutants own age.

"No. We did not take Peter. We don't deal with children," William stated, his face stoney in those moments. He must've been talking about Wanda.

Allie visibly seemed relieved, letting out a long held breath. But it was pulled back in just as quick. They still had her mother.

"Why mom? She isn't a mutant," Allie stated the obvious, waving her hands angrily in an obscene gesture. Why in the hell did they need her mom? They'd want to enhance the mutant powers. What were you supposed to do with a human?

Stryker just chuckled at Allison's ignorance.

"Agh, that's the beauty of it. David doesn't know about the human trials," William said, looking at the mutant, her face dropping completely. There was a look of great fear upon her features. That was exactly what he needed, exactly what he craved to see in their eyes. "There is a good chance your mom has hidden mutant genes. We just need to activate them."

Allie didn't say anything. She just felt the familiar pinch of tears behind her eyes. Yet she wouldn't allow them to fall in front of the dirty bastard before her.

"Just let her go. She doesn't need to go through any of that," Allie pleaded, ducking forwards on her hands to look straight into the man's eyes. It was all she could do to convince him to let her mother go. But maybe the woman had seen too much. There were too many secrets that would be leaked if Mary Simmons just reappeared talking about how she was abducted by a man named Stryker, and brought to his secret facility.

"No can do. We need her to enhance your abilities," Stryker stated, a bored expression coming to his face. A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth as he stood up, making way to the door and knocking roughly on it. The large metal walls pulled apart from each other, allowing the man to exit. "I'll be seeing you sometime soon Allison," he called before the doors buckled tightly shut.

Allie then allowed the sobs to wrack her body, feeling the heavy amounts of stress cave within her mind. She fell to the floor, not even bothering to drag herself to the bed. Her leg ached still with it's condition. Everything was going wrong in those moments.

She was going to die, whether it from being emotionally exhausted, or by the hands of Stryker. And there was nothing that she could do about it.

Washington D.C, two days later...

Peter hadn't slept. He could go a week or so without sleeping if he really wanted to, since he had amazing stamina. But he wasn't sleeping this time just for shits and giggles. He was terrified out of his mind.

They took Allie and her mom. And they were coming for him next. What was he supposed to do?

What good was he kidnapped? Peter needed to go to Charles. That's what would need to happen. But the mutant couldn't get over the shock. He felt like a wussy little boy, but the rush of losing someone so important to him was too much. It was too much.

But there was still hope that maybe they could uncover something and put all the puzzle pieces together. Hope that just maybe they would be able to find Allie and her mom, and then bring the two of them home once more.

He just needed to take his carefully hidden stolen car up to New York, where Charles would be waiting with open and welcoming arms for Peter. The telepath had even said before, he'd help them if anything else came up. And something sure as hell did.

Before Peter decided to take off in his Camaro, he quickly scribbled down a note to leave for his mother, explaining his urgent departure from home.

Mom, I need to go again. Something happened to Allie. I love you.

The mutant didn't even bother to add detail or sign the parchment. Wanda barely knew how to write, so it only left Peter as the short statement author.

Grabbing his signature silver jacket and goggles, Peter sped out of the house and flew down to the playground where he hid his Camaro in a very thick bushed out area. Quickly approaching it he found that it was unscathed, so no one had touched it while the mutant was gone. One good thing that had happened in the past few days, though having a untouched car didn't level out the pain from losing Allie.

Peter rubbed his face tiredly and shoved the key into the ignition, slamming his typical booted foot onto the gas pedal and zoomed out of the tall trees. There was no way he was going to let his adrenaline die then. Allie needed someone to voice her disappearance and the only one who could do so before it was too late was Peter. He wouldn't fail her. Not now, not ever.

Later that night...

"Peter, Peter. Please calm down. We aren't going to get anywhere if we can't understand what you are saying," Charles beseeched the boy, who talked so fast he couldn't decipher a single word he spoke. It was like saying the first syllable of each desperate phrase until continuing onto the next.

"Okayokayokayokay," Peter trembled slightly, getting worked up at just having to relay all he discovered to the telepath. Just thinking about the situation once more pushed him into a cesspool of terror and regret for allowing someone to kidnap Allie and her mother. They were probably two people out of hundreds more- maybe even thousands for all they knew.

The young mutant took a shaky breath, whipping Allie's round sunglasses from his pocket. He'd kept them ever since she'd dropped them down her front steps the night she found out about her father. The lenses seemed to help Peter have some part of the girl with him all the time.

The note left on the Simmons' coffee table was tucked between the arms of the glasses. Peter unfolded the paper and handed it to Charles who didn't leave a reaction for the boy to depict. It was just a stony frown matched with knitted brows.

"I think it happened Monday night. I came to see if she was alright the next day. No trace of Allie and her mom. Just the note," Peter choked out. He wasn't going to cry.

Charles just looked up at him with sympathetic eyes. He could see how much the predicament tore the young man up. The telepath would be the same exact way if it was someone he loved and cared for. So he would do anything in his power to get Allie and her mother back. Then hopefully free whatever other mutants were chained up with these Weapon X people.

"Come inside. I'll fetch David and see if we can dig anything else up, though I haven't been able to in your time gone," Charles said gloomily, wrapping a friendly arm around Peter's shoulders and bringing the boy into the safety of his mansion.

Hank rounded the corner as the front doors shut loudly.

"Oh hey… Peter," Hank's chipper greeting fell as he saw the look on the younger mutants face. He didn't smile back at the beast, just gave him a nod and looked to the ground. "What happened?"

Charles came around to hold the message paper out to Hank.

"Our mystery people kidnapped Allison and her mother," the telepath mused, gesturing for the two men to follow him down the hall to his study.

Upon wheeling into the room, Charles tagged David's mind, mentally commanding the man to join the three mutants in the study. Within the minute the ex-agent strolled through the door with a smile on his face, until he realized the cold atmosphere of the room. Peter just gave David a dark and demeaning look, despite his changed lifestyle thanks to the professor.

"You called professor?" David said, walking towards Charles' desk where he sat with his signature clasped hands in front of him.

"Yes, I'd like to speak to you about your last job as a henchman for 'Weapon X,'" the telepath said, gesturing for everyone in the room to find a seat.

"Sure. What'd you like to know, boss?" David asked with a small innocent smile. Charles nodded, loving the new behavior induced into the man. It was a relief to not need to fight answers out of him any longer.

"Could you tell me who is in charge of the project?" Charles asked, getting back into the interrogational groove that he'd packed up prior to that evening.

"His name was William Stryker. Ex-military I think. We didn't ever hear much of him," David hummed, picking at a hole that found it's way to his dirtied jeans. It had been a long day planting flowers.

"Well that's a good start," Charles replied slowly, jotting down the new name which he was surprised to not have discovered before, on tablet. In the few days that David had finally began his new work, the telepath had taken every chance he could get to do an entire mind sweep, checking for new information with possible leads to Allie's captors. He hadn't found any at the time… how odd.

"Erm, how about where your base is located?" Charles questioned, his brows furrowed with hope that David would again relieve himself of valuable information. It would make their efforts all the more easy.

"I was blindfolded every time I'd come to and from the facility. Although, I must say it's always super cold," Charles frowned at the answer. Well it wasn't as helpful, but the mention of cold climates brought the image of a high mountain range to mind. Perhaps somewhere up North even where it's cold and desolate. Somewhere not many people would dare to travel. Somewhere you wouldn't get discovered...

"Where did you go to get picked up, to go back to this cold base?" David frowned and thought for a moment.

"We would just schedule a meet up in back alleys. I was blindfolded for most of my career professor," the ex-agent sighed sadly, upset he couldn't give Charles the vital information he needed. The telepath sighed as well, turning to stare at his bookcase as if one of the titles would give him a grand clue. Unfortunately that miracle didn't occur, and Charles just turned back to his yard worker.

"Thank you David. Please, continue watering the plants," the professor nodded and wheeled out from behind his desk to approach Peter, who was looking to the older mutant with wide, hopeful eyes.

Once the door was closed behind David, Charles spoke up.

"Something tells me I've met this William Stryker somewhere before..." The professor trailed, bringing his fingers up to his lips, brushing them over his mouth in thought. Call it intuition or just somehow hearing the last name somewhere, Charles knew he'd seen the conductor of Weapon X out in the world. The question was, where exactly?

Peter just sat and stared at the professor a little while longer, before heaving a great sigh, knowing Charles probably wouldn't remember William Stryker that night.

"I'm going to go upstairs… and can I borrow Hanks clothes this time?" The young mutant said rhetorically, meandering around the other two men standing around him, and out the door.

Charles rubbed his forehead hopelessly. He needed to remember where this William Stryker was long before the kidnapping...

The cell...

"Allison, are you ready for the first task?" Stryker more so announced than he actually asked the young girl, with a sing song voice. Allie looked up after the array of hissing and scraping noises from the unbuckled doors to see the big guy standing above her, looking expectantly.

She said nothing.

"Hey, if you're going to be here," Styker kicked her injured leg lightly. Allie tried not to give away her pained reaction and just gave the man a small groan. "You're going to answer me."

Then she nodded.

"Great, follow me." William stated satisfied, shuffling out the open doorway, a metal clipboard grasped within his hand. Allie shot him a befuddled look before standing up carefully, testing how much weight she could place onto her injured leg. It still hurt like a bitch with just the slightest pressure. How did he expect her to fucking walk then?

"Don't worry, my men will help you to our destination," Stryker called from little ways down the hall. Allie just leaned against the wall, waiting for his henchmen to come a rough house her. Which they did.

Two men dressed all in black with dark sunglasses planted over their eyes strode into the cell quickly, taking each of Allie's boney arms in their hands, not taking their time on getting out of dodge. The young mutant couldn't keep up with the older men, and just allowed her feet to drag behind her. It was no use. Their would be no mercy there, so she might as well accept it early instead of be disappointed later.

The trio approached a patient Stryker, who'd crossed his arms while he watched Allie surrender entirely to them. How great. Maybe taking the young girl under his wing to the destiny of a soldier would be easy after all.

Allie pulled her head up as she was tossed into a room with a very bleak interior. Two metal chairs perched across from each other, an equally metal table splitting them apart. Then in the corner were a pair of shackles clamped tightly to the wall. Wonderful.

"Take a seat Miss Simmons, we've got much to discuss and I'm running a tight schedule," William stated, checking his watch quickly. He was actually early but he wouldn't be soon if Allie didn't sit her broken ass in the chair across from him. Now that's one thing he'd need to teach the girl. Take the pain or else she won't be able to take anything else that goes on in their Weapon X plan.

Allie pulled herself up to sit in the cold chair. She didn't make any eye contact with the man across from her.

"Alright, it has come to my attention that you've met Charles Xavier on a few occasions. Is this true?" Stryker began, leaning forwards with his hands clasped before him, much like the professor did. But something about William was more menacing. Not soft like the telepath.

Allie hesitated before giving a curt nod, still refusing to look Stryker in the eyes.

"And he has been inside your head as well?" He asked, ducking down to see if he could catch the young girl's gaze. Allie just looked further down into her lap, staring at her white knuckles. It slightly put him off. It was just a quick look in the eye, which seemed so simple yet it held meaning. If she just looked to him, it meant she'd yield to his will.

Allie went to nod, but Stryker shot his hand out, grasping her chin not as roughly as she expected. He didn't have his gun this time. He couldn't shoot her point blank if she got into his head.

William slowly raised the girl's head to his level, and right when he caught her angry and bitter gaze, a small figure emerged from behind her, followed by a slightly haggard and grotesque, taller one.

It was Jason and Marcy.

"Get out of my head," Stryker commanded, but Allie disappeared from his view, and he was forced to watch as the mother of his child, neck hanging loosely, causing her head to wobble horrifyingly on her shoulder, shuffled towards him. Jason just stood in the back, looking unscathed in comparison of his mother.

The once beautiful woman came closer and closer to William, her hands extended out towards him. They found their way to his neck and he began gasping for air, the initial shock of seeing his dead, murdered wife in front of him slowly leaving. He ripped away her hands away, stumbling out of his chair and onto the floor. William couldn't believe what he was seeing, completely forgetting that it was a trick out of Allison's mutation.

"Stay away from me," he said, crawling to where he found Jason standing in the corner of the room, watching the scene unfold between his father and dead mother. William put an arm around his son, looking in horror as Marcy toppled to the ground, her leg seeming to be the issue.

Then it all stopped. Marcy was gone and William couldn't feel the soft t-shirt his son had been wearing. Instead, his wife's rotting figure was replaced with Allie's living one, as she was hoisted into the air by one of the guards, the young mutants hair in his hands.

Allie screamed, knowing she made a huge mistake in trying to attack Stryker. Of course someone was just outside the door. Of course she wouldn't be able to stand up against the entire facility, which was filled to the brim with guards that would side with the madman any day.

"Get me the helmet. We won't continue today," Stryker said, his arm still held out to where Jason was standing just moments before. Well, the illusion of his son.

The dark guard just nodded and walked out into the hallway, coming back seconds later with a large lump of metal in his hands. It looked as though it was a second model of someone's head...

"Hope you enjoy knowing Charles will never find you." William said bitterly, lightly rubbing his fingers over his neck, where Allie's hands had been just moments before. Little bitch.

"Wait, wait. No, no, no, no..." Allie trembled, one of the henchmen still holding onto her upper arms tightly. "Please don't do this..."

Stryker stood, taking the large helmet into his hands, opening it. It would be the permanent punishment for trying to go against him, and even if the helmet was going to happen no matter the circumstance. It just felt glorious getting such quick and easy revenge on the ignorant girl.

"Put your head up or else we will make you," one of the guards said, seeing Stryker's impatient expression on his face. Allie just slowly looked up, her muscles aching, telling her to keep trying to get away. It was no use however.

William just stared at the young girl's tear stained cheeks. There was no remorse for his actions. One might have been swayed to set the metal mask down, never touch it again and allow the mutant to leave with a great apology. But Stryker wasn't one of those people.

The helmet inched closer and closer to Allie's head, until the front part of it was flat against her face, the eye slits falling a bit above her actual gaze. Then the mouth hole was just a bit too low.

And that was it. William brought the back half of the mask to meet the front edges, ignoring Allie's cries of protest when her hair pinched between it's hinges. The last step was locking the mask up with a delicately carved key. One that Stryker wished he could swallow whole and never allow Allison the chance to use ever again. He'd keep that mask on until the mutant was brainwashed and bowing to his every command.

Allie would become a soldier. She would be morphed into a fighter who survived no matter what. Nothing would change her from the monster she would become. William Stryker would make sure of that.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Five months later...

Peter sighed, holding a personal information form to join his school's track team. The mutant felt that he'd more or less failed everyone around him. His own mother, who'd tried to talk to him about his worsening depression. His little sister, Wanda, who just wanted her old big brother back. Charles and Hank, who he gave up on after giving up on himself long before he decided to return home. And most of all, Allie and her mother, who he was starting to imagine six feet under. Because in the last few weeks of his existence, Peter felt as if every turn was for the worst.

So maybe, if Peter joined something that he could have a guarantee with winning at, he'd feel much better about himself… even as selfish as it sounded.

That's what the mutant was telling himself over and over again in the last few minutes of his study hall class, slumping over one of the many tables of their large library. Maybe if he'd fill out the paper and hand it in, he'd know there was a chance. And if he for some reason in the future didn't want to take the chance, then Peter just didn't have to show up for the track meets. Simple.

"Hey, you joining track too man?" Some random jock kid walked up to the mutant, sporting a dark green varsity jacket, like he'd shopped at a department store owned by their school. Peter just gave him a hesitant look before once again sighing, throwing the form back onto the polished table.

"I don't really know," the mutant admitted, looking back up to the jock who seemed to have a strange gleam within his perfect little blue eyes.

"I can bet you're fast, grandpa. I think you should give it a shot," the blonde boy stated confidently, like he just wanted Peter to join so the team would have a better shot at winning, not for the individual happiness of actually accomplishing something for once. Whatever. And the grandpa comment, that was really fucking lame.

"Alright, whatever you say," Peter said with a lazy yet fake smirk on his face as he prodded his books around, searching for his pencil. The jock, Andy his nicely stitched name tag read, just plucked a pen that was perched up between his ear and his temple, throwing it down to Peter. The mutant didn't flinch as it uncapped on contact, getting a little saturated ink on his hand. Seeeeeriously.

Peter just looked up at Andy's retreating figure. He didn't really want to join track if that douchebag was going to be riding his back every time they saw each other. But as long as he wasn't going and kidnapping the rest of what he loved, Peter could handle being around a few jerks.

"Agh," Peter made an uncertain groan as he flicked Andy's pen just centimeters above the space where his signature was going to be printed. "Fine."

Name (Print): Peter Maximoff Date: Jan. 18, 1974

Maybe Peter finally had something to take his mind off of his crumbling life.

Two months later...

"Shower time kid. Get up," Allie peered up, staring at her usual guard through the thin slits of her helmet. Shower time. It was basically the only good thing about her long months within the facility in which she was held captive. The water was always warm, even despite the fact the entire building was typically very cold. It soothed her tense and beaten muscles, replenishing a little bit of Allie's strength with each and every fifteen minute session.

The mutant stood, feeling her neck ache deeply from the weight of the helmet. Her leg had healed long before that very moment only due to the annoyance of Stryker, who'd been impatiently sick of waiting for his men to carry Allie all through the hallways for every meeting. Of course it was out of the sheer personal advantage for him, not to make Allie feel any better. So having her leg patched up better didn't seem all that great. Rather just a bitter sweet story behind the wound's journey to full healing.

Allie shuffled towards the man wordlessly, allowing him to grasp her boney upper arm as his typical routine, but not without a slight flinch from her.

A few days after Allie tried to ultimately kill Stryker, he must've gave a venomous word to his men to rough up the girl, because they came into her cell in the middle of the night only to viciously kick her to the ground, landing a few blows in areas that weren't very breakable, yet painful all the same. Situations like such only occurred a handful of other times before William's anger began to burn away. Luckily for Allie, the beatings never drove back up again, because she was forced to wear the helmet and walk around with shackles on her hands and feet.

The mutant had only met with Stryker two other times. Though they were short sessions filled with questions about her mutation and sometimes even her more personal information. It seemed like all the scribbled answers that Allie gave him were going to eventually lead up to something great. Something that would change Allie forever. Though she didn't quite know how.

But those thoughts weren't very appealing in the sense, as they set Allie with fear of being morphed into something she didn't want to be. David's robotic words always echoed in her mind late in the night. Weapon X specialized in training and experimenting mutants into soldiers. Powerful and dangerous soldiers at that. The kind that didn't hesitate to kill others, whether it was right or wrong. The only thing to listen to when under such an influence was the orders. Nothing else.

What scared Allie the most was how they'd do it. How were these scientists supposed to change one's morals so they follow the lifestyle of a cold and deadly killer, whose only task was to murder anything in it's path. If they were planning on turning Allie into one of these gruesome warriors, they'd need to try really hard because she wasn't going to crack easily into becoming a murdering machine. It just wasn't in the blonde's nature. Hell, she couldn't kill anyone with her powers even if she tried. Except for like, an accidental heart attack or something.

But that was beside the point.

"To the left today," the guard informed Allie as she tried to take the typical right turn to the shower rooms. "Pipes busted." Oh of course. Something went wrong every week despite the fact that the facility was so secure and supervised. They couldn't even get a blasted pipe fixed in time for their prisoner's shower block. The young mutant would've joked about something so ridiculous with Peter if only they weren't separated from each other.

Allie had done a lot of thinking about him in her long days of being held up in her cold cell, waiting for another beating or for just someone to come in and take her back to Stryker. Peter was one of the only things that she could recall upon fondly that seemed to brighten her day little by little. The one thing that seemed to keep her from losing her mind, from going insane. The one other thing she was willing to fight for aside her mother.

There was a very reasonable explanation as to why she was willing to make it through for Peter. An explanation she discovered not too long before the pipes decided to fail that day. Allie loved Peter. It was simple yet one of the most difficult ideas that she had ever come to terms with. Loving someone in more than just a friendly tone. It was real and growing a little stronger with each passing minute.

Whenever Allie lied down at night and thought about how close they had been in their stolen Camaro, she knew that Peter felt it too. He felt the same love for her that she did him, if not a bit stronger at that. And all that thinking did was make Allie become closer to him even without his presence around her. It was sickening. Not in a way that she didn't want their undeniable love, but the fact that she couldn't have it. Allie was stuck. Stuck very tight and she couldn't escape to run back into Peter's arms with her mother right by her side.

The hopelessness of the situation made Allie cry herself to sleep many, many times. She yearned for Peter's love and yet she was forced to stay away while her feelings ate her whole.

Allie could feel the pinch of tears behind her eyes as she walked to an unfamiliar part of the facility, with the guard's tight grip ever present on her arm.

"Where are we going?" Allie questioned the man, not thinking to stop herself from asking too much. Wondering got yourself in trouble. They asked the questions, not you.

"Not the showers," was all he replied with, making another sharp turn to a darkened, open room. There was a metal table in the center of various machines and control systems, which had leather straps screwed tightly onto it's surface. Bad news.

Allie began to hyperventilate, pulling away from her guard, the shackles bound to her making a loud clatter at her new movements. The man's glasses fell a little down the bridge of his nose, revealing to Allie his dangerous eyes that told her she needed to stop protesting and just accept what would happen within the next few moments.

"Please..." The young mutant cried from beneath her heavy mask, her throat feeling constricted as she slowly allowed herself to be dragged to the table.

"Take off the cuffs, would you?" A high voice said from behind the girl. Allie tried to turn to see who was the new person, but she kept getting tugged forwards until one of her hands was secured beneath a single leather strap.

"Don't try anything kid, and this will go a little easier," the guard stated coolly before walking off for a few moments.

Allie just stood in absolute fear, waiting for her usual security enforcer to return and relieve her of the shackles. Though she didn't know what was worse. The shackles or the tight leather straps. Probably the straps, which felt like sandpaper on her sensitive skin.

The guard returned and slid a key into each of her usual confinements, until they fell to the ground with soft 'clinks.' Allie could feel the weight of being held down by the cuffs lift off her limbs. She considered trying to quickly unlatch the leather straps and make a run for it, but the idea was burst almost immediately. They would capture her again and then there would be another two weeks of beatings late at night.

"Lay on the ta-" The guard was interrupted by the new voice.

"Hey, no, I'm not doing this with that atrocity on her head," if it wasn't such a helpless situation, Allie would've laughed at his pointed statement. The mask was very much so an atrocity.

"Then you, sir, need to call in Stryker. Only key in the house," the guard called up to the man, like the new guy was standing on an evaluating balcony or something. Perhaps he was the scientist in charge.

"Alright. Give me a minute," the man muttered, his voice echoing a little ways off, like he was walking away. Allie sighed, hoping that he wouldn't come back soon. That one of the pipes just burst out of the wall and knock him out so they'd need to put off whatever procedure they will be conducting for another time. The young mutant needed to mentally and physically prepare herself for something like that.

Now that she thought about it, the showers probably worked fine. Bastards.

"You heard the man, c'mon lay down before Stryker comes," the guard demanded like he was scared that if she wasn't seated and ready, William would kill the both of them out of impatience.

Allie just nodded shakily and awkwardly crawled up onto the table, having to move around her already strapped arm, and lie down on the cold surface. Her thin, gray cell uniform did nothing to preserve heat and always left her chilled to the bone.

The guard came around and strapped her neck, other hand, and her feet all down so she couldn't move a single joint. It was scary. Terrifying even. Allie could do absolutely nothing while these men experimented on her. Hurt her. And there were confinements, so she couldn't help herself even if she wanted to. Hopeless. Helpless.

"Do you not understand, Charles… Xavier... has been in her mind. He'll know what to look for," Allie could distinctly hear Stryker's convincing voice coming back down the hall straight towards where she was being held, completely vulnerable.

"It will only be a short session today. My new formula has been claimed to boost our telepathic abilities. Some subjects have begun moving objects kinetically," the scientist hyped, trying to let his new breakthrough make up for having to take Allie's helmet off.

"Look, she isn't a full fledged telepath. Have you even read her file. I don't want this one to go to waste because of some fluke in your 'formula.'" Allie could've laughed at Stryker's tone and use of words. For someone else on the outside it would sound as if he was defending her, trying to keep her from going through something she didn't need to. But Allie knew he wanted to keep her around to make her something bigger and badder, through lots and lots of pain. Stryker just didn't want the clean sheet of glass to break before he could shatter a few corners.

"That's alright, we can see how she reacts to the serum. None of my subjects have been terminated during the process if that is what you are worried about," the scientist said, surprising Allie. She was shocked to find that there were other people who were willing to fight Stryker for something these days. If she were that scientist, she probably would've put her head down and asked the guard to take the subject back. But Allie was never one for chemistry nor mutant torture.

"Fine. I've forgotten the point of this conversation," William stated blandly, tiredly. What a very disinterested man he became when something didn't go his way. Under all the military fatigues and training, he probably was just some asshole child.

"The helmet will get in the way. We need to inject the formula straight into the brain," Allie cringed at that. There was going to be a needle in her head. Going straight into her brain. Sounded painfully gross.

"Fine," William muttered, hopping down the steps leading to where Allie was lying, still with the warmth of her guard standing by her side. "I don't need to tell you not to do anything, right?" Stryker asked the girl smugly. She shook her head. "Great."

Then he took the helmet off completely. It was like a breath of fresh air for Allie. The aches in her neck lessened slightly. Her hair was no longer tangled in the hinges of the mask. And most of all, she could actually see again. It would be wonderful if she didn't have a great danger coming onto her.

"Perfect. Let's get started," the scientist from above cheered as there were the sounds of materials being scattered around.

Allie took a shaky breath, wishing that someone would just hold her hand, but there was no one there for her… she was alone.

One month later...

"Peter, what's with this paper?"

Peter looked up from his math homework to see his mother come trotting down the steps, his track form in her hands. He'd needed a parent signature in order to hand it in. And well, let's just say he was in no shape to forge his mother's.

"Track," was his brief reply. Peter's mother stood at the base of the stairway for a few moments before relieving herself of a sigh, coming to sit down beside her son. She made no move to touch him, just sat and stared at the mutant while he viciously scribbled an equation onto his scrap sheet. One pep talk from mom coming right up.

"Why do you want to join track?" She asked, trying to get her son to look at her, but Peter refused to glance up from his hard work.

"Running is the only thing I'm good at," Peter answered solemnly, pausing a second in his harsh writing. He felt so unfulfilled just saying the statement, but it was one of the truest things he felt that he'd ever spoken. Peter was just some mutant who only had his special abilities going for him.

"Look, Peter, I think we need to have a talk. I need you to open up to me," the mutant's mother beseeched him, choking up a little with her pleading words. It had been so long since her son had talked with her. She just wanted to hear him talk about why his life was suddenly crashing. It was like trying to help someone but they were behind a glass door, one that you were afraid to shatter because the broken pieces would hurt them.

Peter sighed, finishing the last fifteen questions on his sheet with his speed before looking to his mother. He would finally tell her just how bad it hurt.

"I failed her mom," Peter began, not looking his mother straightforward. The older woman frowned down to the mutant.

"Are you… talking about Allie?" She asked, not exactly knowing who 'her' was, but taking a slight risk at saying the only options name. Peter just nodded at her assumption.

"I haven't told you yet," the mutant sighed, swallowing quickly to try and stop the tightness in his throat. Maybe he'd finally cry. "There were some very bad people. They took her away and I needed to be there for her and I wasn't..." He blabbered slightly while his mother stared on at him confused. Was Peter insinuating that Allie was kidnapped?

"Who took Allie, Peter?" The mutant just looked up, swaying between his options. It would be dangerous for his mother to know too much, yet would it be better for her to go uneducated or scared of having mutant children because of William Stryker? Peter just decided to leave the details aside.

"It doesn't matter. I just… it's my fault. Ishould'vebeentherebecauseshewasinjuredandcouldn'thelpherselforhermother-" Peter began hyperventilating, making his mother go into a flurry of movements, pulling her son into her arms.

"Peter, Peter, stop. None of what happened was your fault. Now I don't know what happened but you didn't take Allie away," Peter held his mother like she was his anchor. The person to pull him out of his depression and back into his good ol' self with time. But for the moment, she was going to do the magic.

"Okay, okay," Peter sighed, slowing his breathing. His mother just held onto his shaking form yet, letting her own tears fall at seeing her son so distraught over something. Never had she seen Peter so dysfunctional and sad before. He'd always been happy and comical, but whatever happened to Allie must've brought him down into a deep abyss of regret and self loathing. It hurt her to seem him so helpless from his own mind.

"Everythings going to be okay. Just know that things happen for a reason. Something will come out of this, alright?" In that moment, Peter felt it would take a miracle for something good to come out of the shit fest he was trapped in, but to satisfy himself and his mother, he just nodded.

People always said that a mother is forever right...

The next day...

There was something wrong.

Something terribly wrong.

Allie was scheduled three visits to her newly assigned scientist, who'd rather enjoyed the results he'd obtained from her. And after those three painful sessions, the mutant was mortified to find that she was capable of much more than just hallucinations.

"Black magic," Victor, Allie had figured out the man's name from spying his badge, had said after she was given a little play time in their resulting rooms. They were hard domed chambers which were made of some very powerful elements to ensure safety. "Something I've never seen before."

Allie stood in the center of the desolate room with one of the facilities ex-employees standing before her. She'd eavesdropped briefly that he'd tried to give away classified information to people in question. He was discovered to say in the least, and ended up becoming a dummy for mutants getting used to their abilities.

"I want you to show us what you can do," Victor stated from behind the one way mirror to the left of Allie. She looked around for a moment, wondering just what she should do if the ex-employee were to attempt to defend himself and somehow attack her.

Eh.

"Please don't do this," the man pleaded, backing himself against the bare wall behind him. Allie looked at him sympathetically. Anyone against Weapon X was with her.

"Okay-" Allie was going to try to work the situation out when a voice echoed through a speaker on the ceiling.

"Allison," Stryker's voice cooed, cracking a bit from the system. "We have your mother back here. Kill him or we kill her," Allie just looked horrified towards the mirror, spotting the faint outline of the two men with a smaller figure standing between them. It had to be her mother back there. No way in hell was Allie going to let them touch a hair on her mom's head.

So she turned to the ex-employee, her face cold and stoney. She had to do what she had to do for those she loved, no matter how bad it sounded. In that facility, it was kill or be killed for your cause.

"I'm sorry," Allie apologized sincerely, but raised her hands despite the words, feeling a new power surge through them. The mutant raised her eyebrows as she observed some sort of smoky black mass expand outwards from the palm of her hands, turning itself into the shape of a decrepit old woman. It was almost as if her mutation knew the man's fear before she did.

It was his grandmother, who had abused him when he was younger before he was finally able to move out at just sixteen years of age. Allie felt terrible for using something so bitter as her advance but then she remembered the image of her mother behind the one way mirror.

The man screamed in terror as he saw the black creature turn into his grandmother, her broken limp taking a path right to him. Allie felt further whilst he continued to destroy his vocal cords.

He was also scared of the dark.

Allie sent out a few clouds of her mystery smoke to cover the ceiling lights, dimming the room to barely any brightness. It was just the ex-employee and the possessed woman.

"Please, LEAVE ME ALONE!" The man cried, curling in on himself, still against the wall. The old woman moved closer and closer to the group rat, until the smoky figure was just upon him. The wispy black fingers of his grandmother made their way around his neck, constricting his throat. Allie just watched, mortified that the figure had a mind of it's own, like it knew the mutant needed the man dead to save her mother.

"Sto-... p," the ex-employee gasped, his hands falling to the smokey creatures wrists. He'd tried to pull the hands away but he was already weakening from the notable lack of oxygen. Even if he would get rid of the tight grip, he'd have some sort of brain damage.

But sadly for him, the grip didn't loosen, and eventually his body fell limp. Then the smokey figures and light barricades fell away.

Allie killed someone with her mutation. She could hear her mother's cries and Victors cheerful clapping through the loudspeaker as Stryker spoke, almost in congrats.

"You made your first kill Allie. It's time you learn to make many more."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Three years later...

Peter fucked up.

"Look, you don't need to give me all the details, but please tell the truth. Are you a mutant, whose abilities are making you get all these time records?" Peter stared at the man, guilt written all over his features. He was basically the big guy in charge of the college track league. The same one who was astonished to see how fast Peter ran, and the same one who thought it was suspicious for someone to run a mile in a minute and fifty two seconds. And that was just Peter making himself seem normal.

"Uh, y- yeeeeeeeeah," Peter admitted awkwardly, his hands rested tightly in his lap. "I- I was gonna tell ya, but… I didn't… yet..." The older man just looked at Peter unconvinced, running a tired hand through his salt and pepper hair. Which he should be. The mutant lied and should've known that karma would come and nip him in the ass eventually. Cheaters are always discovered...

He shook his head in one of the most disappointed gestures Peter had ever seen in his life. It made him feel like an absolute failure...

"Look Peter, you're a nice kid and all, but we need to let you go. It's… it's cheating really. And we can't allow that here," the man stated sternly yet apologetically. He hated to see Peter go yet he had to, as everyone on the team was against keeping him. He was a mutant and just had a natural strike over everyone else on there because of his abilities. It just wasn't fair to everyone else.

"Wait, wait. A- are you sure? Um… yeah. Yeah," Peter stood up suddenly while shaking his head, his sticky track uniform beginning to irritate him. "I'm sorry, real sorry. I'll get going now," the older man stood up as well and watched silently as the young mutant strode out of his office with slow paces. The slowest he'd ever see the boy move. It was sad to see the determination drained out of him, like he was defeated beyond belief.

Peter was pissed off. Not at the big guy in charge for letting him off easier than what the mutant thought, but for himself. He was stupid and selfish. Joining a track team because you know you can win? The mutant didn't even know why he did it in the first place, it was such an impulsive move on his part. He was so stuck on himself when Allie… was taken that he just wanted himself to be okay. He wanted himself to be able to make it through the next few years of his life. For Peter, the last couple years were about himself.

And now thinking about himself made him sick. The feeling was almost as bad as losing Allie.

"Idiot," Peter whispered to himself angrily, walking into the guy's locker room loudly. No one was in there with him, so he could go through his self loathing all by himself. Oh there's that word again. Himself.

The mutant ripped off his shirt, throwing the uniform onto the ground. Then his sneakers and the shorts that matched it.

"What were you thinking?" Again, another bitter self evaluation. Peter fondled his lock and impatiently flipped the dial around with his speed. He didn't even bother to set the lock beside him, just instead threw it across the room. It broke against the wall.

His still living silver jacket and shoes were waiting inside for him, along with his dark jeans and his Led Zeppelin tee. Within a second the clothes were on him and that was it. Peter left the locker room and fled out to his car. It was still the stolen Camaro.

Peter really needed to go home.

The cell...

Allie had counted all the enhancement sessions. She was at 39 that day, awaiting another painful, leather bound experiment which had claimed to boost her healing capabilities. Since she had no physical mutation aside from the shadowy figures that escaped her mind, that was their next step.

"Remind me, what is this supposed to do?" Stryker asked Victor, who'd still remained Allie's personal mad scientist. Throughout her entire stay at the cold facility, the older man always made the young mutant his prime subject due to his interest. He'd constantly been fascinated by the fear inducing mutation, she'd heard him remark on a few occasions.

"Well, this formula will allow Allison to heal from major wounds within a non lengthy time period. Unless, under the circumstances, she is decapitated. She will not grow back a head," the scientist explained sheepishly, looking down at his control panel. Everything was set and ready for William's order. All he had to do was give his 'blessing.'

"Is there anything in your stash of serums that will keep her alive and young for a long time?" Stryker questioned, looking down at Allie's unmoving figure. She found it odd how they'd use a conversational tone when speaking about such detailed ideas. Ones that involved shoving needles into a young girl's body, turning her into a soldier against her will.

"Ah, yes actually. I believe we've found something quite valuable pertaining to that idea. Remember the trip to Nigeria?" Victor said, walking down from his observation balcony to stand before his main control system. Stryker nodded, slightly estatically like he discovered his favorite toy was fixed.

"You've put use to it?" He asked cheerfully, excited that their latest find was successful. Allie turned the best she could and saw the smile firmly of the man's face. It scared her that he called whatever they were talking about, 'it.' That meant it was something she couldn't know about. Which would most definitely meant it was to be used on her.

"Mhm," Victor hummed, clicking a few buttons and flipping various switches. "Are you ready?"

"Yes Mr. Tyion. Proceed."

Pain was the last thing Allie felt before passing out entirely.

Two days later...

Allie awoke to the tell tale hissing and scraping of her cell doors opening. What on earth would her guard be doing in the middle of the night? She hadn't done anything wrong in a long while, so she couldn't have enticed another beating.

"Look, I need to go make a few hall rounds," she could hear his deep voice out from the hallway. It was her guard, and it sounded like he was letting someone into her room. Bad news. The last time people were let into her room, she was beaten half to death for disobeying orders. "I might be back later."

"Fine by me. As long as the job gets done I'm happy," the other voice sounded. Seemed familiar but at the same time not quite so. Allie just brushed it off, though she couldn't put a reason behind why they'd be waking her up so late. Unless it was morning and she was morbidly tired or something. It was unlikely.

Suddenly, a man dressed in the typical dark suit and glasses strode into Allie's cell, going straight to her bedside. The young mutant acted like she was sleeping, quickly closing her eyes before the man could notice.

She wasn't expecting the non-hesitant blow to the stomach.

"Ughh, mmm..." Allie groaned as she was dragged off her bed by her ankle. If she tried to fight back they would just send more and more people in to abuse her at unexpected times during the day. Or rather night.

Her metal helmet made a loud thud as it landed on the ground first, and Allie's neck ached even further due to the impact. Another blow to the stomach. The mutant could hear the sounds of her ribs cracking, and it didn't feel nice.

She began coughing up blood.

"St-op. S...top," Allie choked on the metallic liquid as it came further up her throat. The man ceased his punches and grabbed Allie by the lock of her mask, dragging her beaten body out into the hallway. They continued like that for sometime, Allie occasionally aiming to spit some of her blood out the small slot in the helmet, just below her mouth. There was a trail of the red liquid all down the hallway.

"Hey, I've got her. Call in Stryker to clean up the helmet," the man said to someone in a crisp white uniform. Allie couldn't see their face.

"What's the damage," the new person asked boredly, walking around Allie to a metal table much like the one in the experimenting room. The mystery woman laid down a smooth white sheet on the table top before making a gesture to the man still holding Allie by the helmet.

"Coughin' blood I think. Got 'er in the stomach," the man said a little smugly, like he was proud that he basically punctured one of Allie's lungs. There was a sound of unimpressment from the new lady- nurse, whatever she was, as she moved over to wrap one of Allie's boney arms around her shoulders.

"I got Stryker coming. Put her on the table," Allie was hoisted up onto the metal surface which was still cold despite the sheet. Lying on her back seemed to make the pain all the more surreal and agonizing, but she would have to say in that short drag from the cell to the infirmary, the pain had dulled. The nurse lifted the mutants shirt up to expose her stomach.

"Looks like the swelling is already going down. I'm guessing she's new and improved also?" She asked, obviously having dealt with other cases like Allie's. The guard nodded as Stryker strode into the room with quick and irritated paces.

"Why am I awake at three in the morning?" He asked in an annoyed tone, running a hand down his face tiredly. The guard frowned and gestured down to Allie's figure. William only noticed the girl in that moment. "Oh."

Allie could sense the smile on his face. What a dick.

"I think Victor's formula has already taken effects," the nurse informed Stryker as she observed Allie's rib cage, prodding the still sore area. She'd stopped coughing up blood a few moments before.

"Good," Stryker nodded and unlatched Allie's helmet, peeling it off her head with a grimace as he saw the blood caked on the inside. "Get someone to clean this," he handed the heavy metal piece over to the nurse who mirrored his disgusted expression, and carried it away. Allie squinted into the light. The pain was numbing quickly, almost like it was just a simple sting really.

Stryker slowly approached the side of the table, peering down onto Allie's blood stained face. He hummed and the guard handed her a cold wet rag.

The mutant took it graciously but made no mention of it, and wordlessly rubbed her face, sitting up on her elbows. She could feel the men's discomforting eyes on her. What were they looking at?

"What's on your hands?" Stryker asked Allie, making a grab for her empty palm, forcing her towards him.

"What?" Allie muttered, confused. She dropped the bloodied rag and looked down at her fingertips to find that they were dusted a black color that faded to gray slightly down her skin. Weird. Was it from her hands dragging on the ground?

William took her finger and grabbed the bloody rag, trying to wipe away the stains that all somehow looked a lot alike. The black wasn't seeming to lessen and stayed fast on the mutant's fingertips.

"Huh, must be a side effect of using your mutation," Stryker mused, still holding Allie's hand in a tight grip.

Allie frowned. What if it spread?

The nurse returned with the helmet, which was spic and span.

"I don't think I'll need to do any patching up on her. The rib seems to be back into place. No bruise either," Stryker looked up to the nurse with a grin as he made Allie sit up in order to put the helmet back on. He was one step closer to making the young girl just another one of his super soldiers.

Later that day...

Peter was fighting a battle with himself.

A couple days back during his trip home, he'd stopped at a gas station. And while he was waiting in line with a cola in hand, he just so happened to peer over the news rack that was displaying all the latest juicy stories. One of those said stories was labeled: Peter Maximoff a Mutant - Sporting Scandal.

Peter had grabbed the newspaper quickly before the douchebag biker behind him tried to snag his place in line, and began intently reading the segment. A segment which reportedly stated that mutants were no longer allowed to participate in professional sports… because of Peter.

So after he'd paid for his gas and soda, Peter stomped out to his car and threw his drink inside, shattering the bottle. Of course it was his luck. Then he got in the driver's seat and flew out of the station to the middle of nowhere. He took the small time of privacy to scream as loud as he could into the sky above. Hell, he thought he tore a vocal chord when he was done.

Peter had spent half an hour rolling around the dirt angrily and ripping grass from the meadowy fields, probably getting tons of ticks as he did so. But at the moment, he couldn't care less even if there was an audience watching him during his entire escapade. He was mad at himself and all that matter was making it known. Embarrassment wouldn't stop his stream of bitter thoughts.

When the thirty minutes finished up, and Peter was panting and close to seething tears, he dragged himself up off the ground and fell onto the hood of his car tiredly.

Why?

That was all that kept running through his head during that day. Why him? Why did he ruin it for everyone? Why was it him of all mutants to fuck up so bad that an entire population wasn't allowed to do what an entire other population could? Just, why?

Peter sat there for a few minutes, waiting for an answer until the image of someone flashed through his mind. Allie.

The mutant began shaking. Oh god, he thought. What would Allie think if she somehow found out what he'd done in her absence. He'd pushed everyone he loved away and then most likely ruined any chances of having love ever again. Everyone was going to know who he was. The young kid with gray hair and the speedy mutation. Yeah, he's the reason mutants can't play sports. No one would want to ever be around him.

Peter would probably get ganged killed by Erik or some shit. And he deserved every painful second of it.

"Allie I miss you so much. You would've probably laughed at this situation and made it all alright," Peter whispered to himself, wishing that Allie could hear his words, his pleas to see her again. It had been quite a few years since her abrupt disappearance, and it had been long enough for Peter to not dwell on the regret constantly. But it all came back up with each moment he really thought about what was wrong with him.

"Why? Whywhywhywhywhy?" Peter asked no one, pushing himself off the hood of his car, going around to the driver's side. And from there, he drove the rest of the way home, ripping up the newspaper piece by piece and throwing it out the window, leaving a trail of his mistakes like all his problems would disappear if the evidence was physically gone.

If only he'd rip up every newspaper out there.

"Peter?" The front door flew open and the mutants mother stood there, as if she was seeing a ghost. Peter just looked down at his mother, unsure of what to do until his mother instantly pulled him into her arms, wrapping him in her gentle embrace. "Oh thank God you're back. I missed you so much."

Peter sighed in relief, returning the gesture. He hadn't known what to expect when he returned home and waited patiently at the front door. Some part of him assumed his mother would scold him, be disappointed for his actions that cost the freedom of others. The mutant hadn't really expected her to welcome him back home with open and forgiving arms.

Unless she hadn't yet heard the news. Peter frowned at the thought and decided not to mention it unless his mother said something.

"Where's Wanda?" Peter asked, looking over his mother's shoulder at the inside of his house, trying to spot where his little sibling redhead may be hiding.

"At a friends house tonight. She'll be home tomorrow though," Peter just nodded and pulled away, his arms falling to his sides. His mother looked up at him with a small smile on her face. "C'mon, get comfortable. I want you to tell me all about college."

Peter's heart sank at the mentioning, and he wordlessly walked into the house, not being able to look his mother in the eye.

One year later…

Once again, Allie was put to the test with her mother as the leverage.

"We have three opponents for you today Allison," Victor's voice rang out through the domed room. The same one in which Allie had murdered the ex-employee in. The same room where she'd kill more people to make sure her mother lived. Though every second tore her up inside, she still pulled through each death to keep just one person alive.

"You have two humans to use your mutations on, then another mutant," that time it was Stryker's curious and slightly excited voice. He was ready to see how well Allie could handle fighting other mutants, just in case the situation would occur out in battle. Surely someone outside of the Weapon X project had thought of using superhumans as soldiers as well. William was just one step ahead at all times.

Allie looked at the one way mirror, trying to spot her mother's figure again, to which she did, and saw the dark and faint outline of the older woman there. It deeply discomforted Allie that her own mother had to sit and watch her daughter kill people just for the sake of keeping her alive. Allie hoped her mother didn't become guilt ridden with the fact that others were being harmed in her favor. But the mutant had to admit, it was quite well out of their hands. Even if Allie's mother wasn't kidnapped as well, she'd still have to fight to the death with others.

Allie turned rapidly at the commotion coming from behind her. It was two large men. They both were shoved into the domed room by guards, armed with weapons. The man to the left had a knife while the other to the right held a handgun. The mutant panicked.

There was no hesitance as the man on the right raised his gun and took aim at Allie, pulling the trigger. He was as scared as she was.

With reflexes Allie didn't know she had, she jumped out of the bullet's travel to the wall behind her.

Okay. That was close.

Allie turned towards the two men from her position on the ground, and swept into their minds. That time, she would see what way they feared to die.

The one with the knife didn't want to be stabbed to death, how ironic, and the man with the gun was afraid of drowning. Allie didn't quite know how to make the latter one work, but she figured her mutation would somehow cross that bridge on it's own.

The man on the right scrambled around the room, trying to get as much distance between himself and the mutant as possible, while the other with the knife stood closer, considering he had a close range weapon. Unless he threw it.

Which he did. Luckily for Allie the aim was horrific and the knife clattered to the ground behind her harmlessly. The weaponless man's eyes widened as he watched the young mutant make a grab for it, and he quickly made a run to the other guy with the handgun who'd been observing the scene unsteadily.

He pulled the trigger once more, but the bullet only grazed Allie's arm. Which fortunately for her, Victor's secret formula healed it within seconds. No pain, just a slight sting where the blood didn't even get a chance to seep out.

Allie stood up, and beside her came a tall shadowed figure. Then another on her other side. She handed the knife to the smoky man to her left, who'd taken it slowly and carefully.

The man with the gun across the room tried to shoot the shadow figure, but the bullet went straight through it, causing a small black cloud to emerge from it's stomach.

Allie fell back behind her mutational shadows and closed her eyes, listening to the men scream and the bullets empty from the handgun.

She didn't want to know how the drowning worked out. Nor the stabbing.

"Very good Allison. Very good," Stryker's pleased voice rolled in after the men's last screams echoed through the chamber. Allie silently sent an apology out to their dead souls, knowing that it wasn't enough to forgive herself for killing two men that probably didn't even deserve it. "We are bringing in the other mutant now."

Allie turned slowly to the hard metal door on the wall, waiting for someone much more powerful than her to enter. But instead, a girl maybe a few years older than herself was shoved roughly through the entryway. She had mousy brown hair and light blue, gentle eyes. Eyes that held clear fear in them. Allie felt her heart melt at the sight. The other girl reminded her of herself. So vulnerable and unconfident with her surroundings, the situation in which she was forced to live through.

"Grace, this is Allison," Victor stated, introducing the girls. Grace. That was Allie's grandmother's name. It made her heart wrench all the more. "Allison, Grace. You both will be testing your abilities until, well, I suppose we shall see how things go," the crackling from the intercom ceased as Allie looked across the room to Grace, hating that she'd have to fight her. She looked thinner than Allie was.

Within a split second Allie got her report. Grace was fearful of electricity because she had the ability to spill water straight from her body. Allie didn't have time to be fascinated with the details, as a slight mist began showering down onto her, slowly being pulled into a more concentrated point with extremely high pressure. It stung very, very badly.

Once again, Allie was scrambling around the room, waiting for her mutation to simulate some form of electrical shock on the girl, but nothing came. There weren't any shadow figures roaming around, nor any wispy sparks appearing out of nowhere.

"Shit," Allie cursed, realizing that for some reason her mutation couldn't exactly enforce true electricity, and she'd need to get real crafty with her ability. The only thing that came to mind was the light fixtures. Maybe if she somehow got Grace to put her overpowering pressure water on the hanging bulbs, they'd fall to the ground. Perhaps it would expose the outlet that the electricity flowed through towards the bulb.

Allie though it was a tough shot, but it was all she had before needing to strangle the girl herself.

So, with great agility, Allie leapt across the room, right beneath the line of the light fixtures. With all her might the blonde jumped as high as she could in the air and sent out a black puff of smoke up towards the bulbs. Grace was startled by the mist, and instantly sent her pressure water into the black cloud, to which the mass of it disappeared.

Allie had to make a decision. She could try her very tedious plan from earlier, or, she could use the minor distraction to her advantage and rush Grace with all that she had.

Within a split second, Allie decided the latter would have to do, and made a running pursuit to Grace who'd only then noticed that Allie was hot on her, pushing the other mutant to the ground quickly.

"Aghh," Grace groaned, her last bits of water falling back onto the mass puddle on the ground. Allie had successfully stunned her, and quickly hopped onto the girl's waist, throwing her hands onto her skinny neck. She wished the man from before hadn't used all his bullets, so Allie could make the defeat less painful for Grace. Though she didn't even know she would have been able to do that.

Allie looked down at the other girl's tired expression. She'd hit her head from the impact of Allie tackling her to the ground, so she was hazy and seemed to be unable to become focused once more. It wasn't fair.

Grace opened her eyes slightly, staring up at Allie with tears slowly pulling themselves down the sides of her temples. She couldn't do it.

Allie let go of Grace's neck and was beginning to back off of the girl when she heard the speaker above her crackle to life.

"Allison. If you don't kill her, I'll hurt you mother," then there was the sound of a gun being loaded in the background of Stryker's words. Allie turned to the one way mirror with horror and disbelief twisted onto her face. She could see the faint outline of her mother as she always could, but that time Stryker's gun was clearly pointed straight at her. Fuck no.

Allie knelt down onto Grace once more, who was starting to come out of her haze. The blonde returned her hands to the other mutants neck and began to add more and more pressure onto her grip. Grace slowly allowed a few gasps for air to escape her, which seemed to dwindle Allie's courage. She was going to kill someone as helpless as she was with her own hands.

But it was for her mother. Grace would do it for her own family if she had to. But she would never get the chance to. Because Allie was going to kill her. No, Allie wasn't going to kill her.

"Fuck," Allie muttered to herself, loosening her grip on Grace's neck before tightening it once more. She couldn't decide what to do, no matter how obvious the answer was. She should end the other mutant's life so her mother would be okay. Yet for Allie it seemed so hopeless. Would it be better for her mother to die? To not have to live through another day of the treatment of the facility they both were confined to.

'No.' Allie told herself. It wasn't her decision to make. That was her mother's. So with slight hesitation, Allie slowly eased more and more of her weight onto Grace's neck. But it was too late then.

"Times up Allison," Allie could hear the gunshot through the mirror as she took the last breath from Grace.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

One year later...

Peter was just starting to feel a little happy with his post-college life, being home once again. His mother and Wanda took him in with open arms even after they'd both heard his confession to his responsibility behind the mutant bans on professional sports. Sure they were upset and held sympathy for those others who'd never be able to proceed with their sports career, but Peter was still their family and they'd stuck out for each other.

So, Peter could say that it was pretty satisfying… until his mother called him into her room that day.

"You called?" Peter answered, running into the room with his hands behind his back. His mother nodded and gestured for him to close the bedroom door. It was a little odd for his mom to act so serious but Peter figured it was something about Wanda. They'd often talk in secret when they thought they'd seen the younger sibling do out of the ordinary things. Like weaving a strange red web of energy between her hands… just casual occurrences is all.

"I want to talk to you," the older woman stated, crossing her arms and staring into the delicately crafted blanket beneath her. Peter just nodded and came to sit down on the bedside, cautiously glancing at her. Whatever she had to say definitely wasn't about Wanda. "I haven't exactly… been true… with you."

Peter turned to look fully at her then, feeling his heart sink. That could be a many of things. She didn't give him a chance to reply.

"You and Wanda… I've not told you both who the real father is," oh yeah, Peter's heart was all the way down in the core of the earth at that moment. If the 'father' wasn't some regular Joe, his mother wouldn't be so nervous and fidgety about revealing the man himself. But she was, and that made the tension in the room grow.

"Remember when I told you that I knew a guy… who could control metal?"

Three weeks later...

"Great job once again Allison," Allie was no longer counting her sessions with Victor but rather the amount of people she'd killed. So far, it had been 29. The last one being a slighter older man which she was straddled on, having killed him the same way she did Grace the year before. His eyes were still wide open and there was a look of terror on his face. Allie had to orchestrate a vision for him; one where his daughter was murdered right before his eyes...

It had proved a distraction so Allie took her chance. Though it had been successful, it only seemed to add another dull pang to her heart. The same one that occurred each and every time she took a life. And it never got easier.

"Hands behind your head and walk out slowly like usual," Stryker's voice cracked to life once more, and Allie held her arms up, bloodied hands tangled in her hair. The door in front of the blonde opened and there were three guards waiting for her to approach the small table between them, which held the helmet that'd been Allie's biggest confinement for almost ten years.

The second guard wrapped his fingers around her knotted hands and then dipped her body forwards onto the table so that Allie's head was in line with the mask. Business as usual.

Then Stryker would walk up, looking smug and cocky like he always did and swat away Allie's hands from the back of her head. That was it then. The helmet's hinges creaked as it closed on Allie's head and Stryker locked it tight, so it wouldn't have the capability of coming off anytime between her almost weekly battles. Only for shower breaks.

"Alright, take her back," his bitter words were muffled through the mask but Allie could still hear them. It wasn't exactly hate that she heard in his words, just the sick satisfaction of making progress with his toys, no matter the lengths it took. "Wait, wait. No, bring her back to the holding room. I need to share a few words with Allison."

Fucking fantastic.

The guard rapidly turned her around in his arms and passed his two colleagues, following Stryker down the hallway straight to the room where Allie had tried to kill him using her mutation many years before. She didn't regret a single moment of it, nor the beatings that came afterwards. Because for Allie, she got the upper hand on her first stay at the facility. But everything that came after, Stryker knew he was always gaining more power and will than Allie could ever hope for. He did in fact have the control.

Stryker promptly opened the metal door and strolled inside nonchalantly, like it was his own house. In some sense it was.

The guard practically threw Allie into the room, uncaring of how she rammed into the corner of the table, probably giving her a nasty bruise on her hip. The blonde just bit back a pained groan, the ache quickly subsiding anyway and sat down, waiting to see what Stryker had to tell her. It couldn't be good. It never was.

"Alright," Stryker took a seat, waving the guard out the door. There was a smile on his face. "A lot has happened for you here. I wanted to talk to you about it. Maybe let you in on some key points of this project."

Allie didn't give him any gesture that she was listening, though he went on, knowing that she was.

"You killed many people. We know that because of your emotional distress. We killed your mother. Emotional distress. We've tortured you. Emotional distress. We've made you kill others. And now, we have to figure out, just what exactly more can we do?"

Allie stared at him through the slits in her mask with a face of disbelief. Was that really the goal? Take away all that Allie had ever loved. Freedom. Happiness. Her innocence. And most of all, her mother. Her sweet mother who'd never harm a fly and was probably put through hell in the many years spent in the facility. She'd watched Allie murder people. Kids even. That was her own torture.

"Well, I took a trip on the outside world and found this..." Stryker then proceeded to bend over the side of his chair and pick up what looked to be a magazine, the front cover being a picture of pretty nice looking young men in track uniforms, posing for the camera. Hell, one was wearing a gray wig for whatever reason. It reminded Allie of Peter… wait.

Stryker couldn't see it, but there was a deep feeling of dread welling up inside Allie, to the point where a very long frown pulled over her features. They wouldn't dare touch a hair on his head. Not if she had the power to stop them.

"Did you read the headline?" Stryker then guided his finger down to big white letters on the margin that read: Peter Maximoff track star to mutant in hiding. Mutant's banned from professional sporting? Allie gasped, low enough for the man across from her not to hear. She looked at the photograph on the front cover once more and saw Peter's smiling face as he stood tall and proud with what seemed to be his coach. The older, baseball capped man had an arm around the other mutant's shoulder like they'd been father and son.

But then it was probably all ripped away. Somehow someone figured it out, put the pieces together and noticed that there was something off about Peter. Perhaps his record times. Maybe the hair. Or perhaps someone from the Pentagon identified him. Lord it could have been anything. No matter the cause however, they all had the same outcome. And that was Peter being ashamed of himself.

Allie knew it. Because that was just how Peter was. He regretted not getting to the shooter, David, in time to save Allie's leg. Surely he'd be battling himself if he was the cause of an entire activity to be ripped from aspiring mutants around the world. The blonde wished she could be there for him. To hold him in her arms and tell him that it was alright, and probably bound to happen eventually. Maybe not by his hands, but by someone else.

"Does this phase you at all?" Stryker questioned Allie, pulling the magazine back, flipping through the pages to the Peter Maximoff Scandal article. He ran his eyes up and down the page, skimming through all the information quickly.

Allie shook her head viciously, trying to make the heavy helmet follow her movements. William paused to look up at the mutant with a cocky expression on his face.

"So you wouldn't mind if we killed him," that was it.

"Please, please do not touch him. I swear I'll do anything. Just don't hurt him," Allie knew her words were just what Stryker wanted. And she would keep feeding them to him the rest of her life if it meant that Peter wouldn't fall into his grasps. That was the last thing she would allow. Or the first she wouldn't. Allie had lost too much. Her mother and her father mainly. There wasn't a realm where Peter would become apart of them as well.

"Ah, I see. Anything at all?" The other man mused, a dark smile upon his face. Allie nodded, the hinges of her helmet creaking with the frantic movements. Stryker just nodded and threw the magazine at Allie, who quickly took the glossy book within her hands. If he would allow her to take it, she would spare no hesitation. It was the closest thing she had to Peter. "Well I'll keep you to that. Just know that we always have eyes on him."

Stryker then stood up, leaving for the door. After he was gone, the guard strode into the room, his hands already on Allie's arms. He gave a suspicious look at the magazine but made no move to take it from her.

Once he'd returned the mutant to her cell, Allie was able to have time alone to read just what exactly was going on in the world. Mainly regarding her friend. And the things they said were devastating.

She cried for him the rest of the night.

Four years later...

Apocalypse had risen.

The cell...

"Well, I can assume it will be about twenty or so years before you finally see any aging on your body. Though, your mind will be constantly developing," Victor was standing beside Allie who was once more strapped to the metallic table within the scientist's lab. They'd just finished up completing their last session for that year. The blonde would be staying young for quite some time.

Then Stryker walked in, looking flustered and a bit worried. Allie stared curiously at the man as he gave Victor a hard look, quickly ripping the helmet key from his vest.

"Something big happened. I need you to take her to the next skirmish with the rats. Take this," Stryker hastefully handed the key to which unlocked Allie's helmet to Victor, who took it within his hands confusedly. He shook his head as the other man began walking away with very quick paces that turned into a run as he neared the door.

Allie's heart was pounding as she thought about just what exactly was happening that caused Stryker to be hurdled into a huge rush.

Victor was frozen in place until he managed to pull himself away from his jumbled thoughts, and began unstrapping Allie from her testing table.

"Come on Allison. We must get you to your fight," the scientist beckoned Allie, helping her into a sitting position. Within a few moments they were up and walking towards the exit where the guards were waiting to take Allie to the domed room. Even the big men seemed to be startled by the rush about the place. Which was understandable. In the ten years that Allie had been confined to the facility, there never was a scene with a hurried Stryker in it. Something must've been wrong.

'Hear me, inhabitants of this world,' a voice echoed within Allie's mind. It was so familiar she almost broke down crying right in that moment. She instantly recognized Charles' light tone within her mind. Maybe he'd finally discovered her. But the thing that worries her was the fact that it appeared the guards and even Victor heard it too, as they all stopped and looked confusedly around the hall.

'This is a message,' the professor's voice stated monotonously, setting fear within the girl. What was happening? 'A message to every man, woman and mutant.'

"What's going on?" Victor asked from behind Allie and the guards. One of the men dressed in black turned slightly towards the scientist and shrugged, his grip loose on the girl's arm. Suddenly Victor came with terms with the fact that one of their dangerous telepaths was standing idly with them in the hall without her helmet secured. "Okay, let's just keep going," he commanded.

'You have lost your way,' their steps slowed but continued to the domed room, questioning their situation yet. 'But I have returned.'

Allie frowned. Who has? Charles?

'The day of reckoning, it is here. All your buildings- all your buildings and temples… will fall. The dawn of a new era will emerge,' why was Charles saying these things?

'For there is nothing you can do to stop what is coming,' Allie turned to look back at Victor who was shaking slightly. What was coming? What was going on? 'This message is for one reason alone: those with the greatest power, protect those without. That's my message to the world.'

"What?" Allie asked aloud, uncaring of the way no one answered her. They were moving along quicker now that the voice had seemingly silenced, a looming presence absent from their minds.

Soon enough, Allie found herself thrown into a room with a younger man who stood tall and ready for her, though he seemed just as worried about the previous message from Charles. He had a mop of curly red hair and eager, blue eyes. Something about him screamed threat. Allie knew that she wouldn't be on top of the match that evening.

The boy shot her a devious smirk as he set eyes on her and instantly disappeared.

"What the fu-" Allie's crude reaction was cut off as the red head's invisible form charged her much smaller one. His arms fell from their hold around her torso, allowing him to rain a few blows down onto Allie's ribs. She sputtered a few coughs and grunts until they stopped, and the mutant could see shadowy figures surrounding them. Finally, her abilities decided to step in. It was up to Allie to find the fear to use.

Snakes. It was the first thing she came upon so she milked it. The tall shadowy figures morphed into small, slithery wisps that were coming towards the unseen weight on top of Allie. The red head must've noticed the creatures approaching him, as he quickly stepped off of the other mutant with an immense fear that she could sense. He took an observational look around, and shook his head. Allie couldn't see this however, only hear his disbelieving words.

"This isn't real. This isn't real," the other mutants deep voice sounded from across the room, where the snakes were impeding to. Allie frowned from her spot on the ground, as she slowly brought herself up onto her elbows. He couldn't just make the shadows disappear. They were real. Somehow they killed other opponents from the domed room. Surely saying they weren't actually real wouldn't work. But Allie was proved wrong.

The shadowy snakes began shriveling up, the black smoke lifting into the air until there was nothing left of them. Guess they were only real if the victim thought them so. Shit.

Allie stood up, already knowing that the redhead was upon her. So once she got the sense that he was mere inches from her, the mutant jumped to the right, slamming herself against the wall. The other mutant slammed against the hardness and his invisibility flickered, until it was gone. He must've been that disorientated from the full charge onto the wall that his mutation didn't have enough focus to continue. Lucky Allie then.

She quickly trotted over to where the boy was lying on the ground, head in his hands. There was a bruise already forming on his forehead. Allie wondered if Victor had ever given a great amount of other test subjects the healing formula. Obviously the redhead never got a syringe-full.

"Pl… ease. Don't. Do… this," he grumbled, eyes clutched tightly. Hell, he even might have a concussion.

Allie looked down at him. She was sure he wouldn't have shown her any mercy, judging by how he took no hesitation to beat her to the ground. Why should she give him any good fortune? She could probably get away with it considering Stryker was away. It might be the last time she could actually spare a life...

Allie thought about it for a moment, and nodded slightly to herself. She kneeled down and situated herself on top of the redhead's chest, wrapping her hands around his throat.

"Shhshh," Allie whispered to him when he began to writhe beneath her. "Just play dead, I won't put pressure on your neck. It'll just look like I knocked you out or something," the other mutant just nodded dazedly and moved his hands to Allie's wrists, feigning trying to stop her. She leaned into her grip on his neck, but didn't allow any of the pressure to maximize. The blonde kicked his leg, signalling him to put up the act.

Across the room, the door opened and a few guards stalked into the room. Allie had barely any time to stand up before their hands were on her, escorting the both of them out of the room. They just dragged the redhead down the hall while the other two men led Allie the opposite way, to where her helmet was located. Victor soon caught up with them and helped Allie to her confinements once more. But right before the mask was closed over, there was the sound of gunshots from down the hall.

Allie jumped out of her skin and quickly looked up to where everyone else was peering cautiously. Then there were more shots let off until they were abruptly ceased. There were the sounds of thundering footsteps coming closer and closer to their position, then a few pained gurgles and shouts. What on earth was happening?

That's when Logan came out of nowhere.

All Allie needed was one look at him to know that he'd gone completely feral and was just killing everything in sight. And he'd do the same to her if she didn't quickly play dead.

So as Logan ran up with impossible speeds (aside from Peter of course) and attacked the guard in front of Allie, she instantly dropped to the ground along with his lifeless body. There was no hesitation from the other mutant there as he continued on, plunging his newly metal claws into the other guards, Victor coming up last on the deceased list. And then Logan was gone. He thundered down the hallway, meeting a few more armed security guards around the corner. Allie could easily hear their groans of pain echo throughout the area.

"Scott c'mon, we need to find them," Allie looked up at hearing an unfamiliar voice from where Logan had came from moments before. The blonde hesitantly stood up, making a grab for one of the dead guard's handgun, holstered yet on his hip.

"Jesus Christ, hold on I need to fix these things..." Another voice. That time it was a guy speaking. Sounded young, like the last stranger.

"Wait," the girl voice again. Allie slowly made her way to the edge of the wall, right before she guessed where the people were at.

Then she was succumbed with a weird blue smoke all around her body as a pair of arms constricted around herself. Allie couldn't see anything and began coughing sporadically from whatever inky air was surrounding her. Then the panic set in.

She was obviously encountering some sort of mutant. One that was death gripping her to the point where she could barely breathe.

To top the cherry throughout the scene Allie was experiencing, she felt that someone was violating her mind. Someone strong. Stronger than Allie. Close to the feeling that Charles reverberated off of everything near him. Hell, maybe even greater. But whatever it was, it had Allie frozen on the spot. She could feel the presence reliving her pain, her suffering. Everything that'd happened in her time from the kidnapping up to that moment. Then it was gone and the arms around her loosened to a gentle grip, just to help Allie stand straight.

"She's coming with us. She needs help," Allie could see then as the smoke cleared up, and there standing before her was a girl, just a bit taller than her. She stood proud, with long, beautiful red hair flowing down her shoulders. And there was a haunting look hidden within her eyes, like she'd seen more in her life than she'd wish to even imagine. Allie could feel her fear. "Are you okay?"

It took a moment for Allie to register what exactly flew out of her mouth. But once it broke through her haze, the mutant just nodded and stepped away from the hands gripping her shoulders.

The redhead gave Allie a bit of room to move around and quickly introduced everyone, as it was clear they were in a rush.

"I'm Jean, that's Scott and he is Kurt," Allie gave a nod to the each of them, her gaze stopping at Kurt's lanky blue form. He shot her a flashing smile.

"Hi, what's your name?" He asked excitedly. Scott and Jean slowly began a descent down the hallway while Allie and Kurt instinctively fell into the rear. Allie assumed the juveniles were going to be her way out, judging by the fear for the facility that was radiating off the each of them. It wasn't exactly a great feeling, but Allie was sure glad she wasn't alone anymore.

"Allie," Kurt smiled despite their situation and continued walking down the corridor.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think this is the door where our friends are trapped," Jean stated, pulling Scott to stand in front of her. "Kurt, we can't blast the door down with them standing in front, try to warn them." The blue mutant nodded and disappeared, leaving an intense cloud of blue smoke behind him. Allie backed away from the mass and mentally compared it to her shadow figures. They basically looked the same, just with a different color.

The three mutants waited a few moments until Scott spoke up.

"You'd think he'd have them warned by now, right?" He asked, placing his fingers onto his red lensed glasses, but not taking them off right away. Jean had the last say in pretty much everything that day, considering she was the brains of the group. Quite literally.

"Yeah-" Allie pushed herself against the wall as soon as Scott whipped off his glasses, like he'd been itching all day to just release whatever extremely powerful red beams from his eyes. It was truly something else. Allie would have loved to see Stryker standing where the door was. He wouldn't like the feeling, but there would be an audience of mutants behind him, applauding Scott in every which way.

A few seconds passed and there wasn't any movement from behind the door until a surprised looking blonde stepped across it's sizzled barrier. Allie didn't recognize the woman and stood a little ways back, trying to give Jean and Scott space to speak with their friends. Though the woman did spare Allie a very shocked glance, like she'd seen her before and didn't exactly expect her to be stuck in a place like the facility. Hm. Interesting.

"We know where the professor is," Jean said, looking at the woman directly. She sounded worried, very worried. And a matter of fact, so was Allie. The message she received from Charles must've really gone out to everyone. And that meant something big.

"I think we might have a way outta here," Scott then added, taking a step towards all the people heading out of the room.

"Well you've been busy," the blonde stated with an underlayer of annoyance. Allie's brows furrowed at the response. She thought being stuck in a room with more than one person, that she considered a friend for less than a day was horrible. Wow.

"We had- uh- a little help," Scott replied sheepishly. "Let's go."

Allie would have began running with the rest of the group… if not for seeing Peter Maximoff step out from behind the small crowd.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"Peter?" The mutant turned, not at all expecting to see Allie Simmons standing before him. A rush of emotions overcame him has he saw how broken she looked. The bags under her eyes, purple and pooling at her youth. There was no color on her face, which meant it was apparent she'd never seen the daylight in years. But nothing was worse than seeing her starved. She looked like a skeleton. The gray fatigues she wore drowned out her entire body, making it seem like she was wearing her parents clothes as some test to adultery. Peter wished it was as innocent as that.

But his wishes weren't granted because they were stockpiled, like saving money to buy the toy you've wanted to have since you could remember. Allie was that thing he wanted most. And she was finally before him.

Though, like a fucking idiot, Peter just stood there, watching Allie like she wasn't real. He wanted to slap himself, prove it wasn't a dream, but he couldn't move. And he still could do nothing as she slowly prodded towards him, until her arms were wrapped around him so roughly he was surprised at the strength her arms could yet muster. It looked like she weight lifted wind for a living. But pretty dense wind.

"You have no idea… how long… I've waited for this," Allie said, tearing up already at actually being able to touch Peter, being able to finally feel him once more after so long without being treated with care. Without being able to feel so softly in so long. For the last ten years Allie had been tossed around like a ragdoll and whenever she was touched, it just led to pain.

It felt like a miracle to be around someone at last that she knew for a fact wouldn't hurt her in the way that the men in the facility had. Peter was there for her before the kidnapping and he would be there for her long after.

"Same," Peter replied, his voice embarrassingly cracking, but he didn't care. His voice was breaking in Allie's ears. She was actually hearing his voice, just like he was hearing hers. "Hold on a second."

Allie felt the familiar feeling of the rush of air around her form, with Peter's hands planted firmly behind her neck and below her ribcage. Allie would say it felt just like the Pentagon if… well… they were at the Pentagon.

Then the feeling fell away and Allie found herself and Peter with the group once more, but right in front of a hefty looking aircraft. One that was definitely crafted for war.

"Hank, do you think you can fly this thing?" The blonde woman in the front of the mutants asked, walking towards the huge thing before turning to look expectantly at the blue mutant. Allie turned as well to see a fluffy blue beast standing idly beside everyone. Was that actually Hank? The only time she'd really been able to see his full blue form was at Washington, but it wasn't exactly the greatest image as he was thrown around for the majority of the transformation. There was something fascinating about seeing him walking about, all free with his natural form.

"Yeah I think I can figure it out," Hank responded, wringing his hands out in a slightly nervous gesture.

Peter sighed and grasped Allie's hand. No one had really noticed her, and he just wanted her to know that he was there and wasn't just ignoring her. All the daydreaming he did of that moment was the complete opposite of what actually happened. He'd imagined huge sloppy kisses and some sort of cliche kind of elaborate escape from wherever Allie was being held. It was almost perfect, until he realized it wasn't.

Hopefully, the big sloppy kisses would come afterwards. Not that those were his main focus...

"Hey guys," Scott grasped the groups attention as he pushed a lone button beside a group of display cases. The doors from in front of the metallic boxes slid upwards, revealing complicated looking suits from beneath. "I think these are flight suits."

Allie could almost instinctively feel the cringe coming up to Peter's face. He hated anything that wasn't his clothes.

The blonde woman walked towards the then exposed suits, then turned back to Hank who also had the tell tale grimace upon his features. There was a lot of fur on his body and not enough room beneath the flight suits.

"We have a war plane. Let's go to war."

A few moments later...

Allie happened to be the second person finished with putting on her suit. The first was surprisingly Hank.

When she walked up into the war plane, he too hadn't expected to see Allie's face.

"Allie? Oh my god I never thought I'd see you here," the blue mutant gushed as he walked towards Allie, who had a bashful smile on her face.

"Yeah, I never thought I'd see me here either," that statement pulled a frown over Allie's mouth and she looked to the ground, attempting to hide the tone that overtook her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was be a downer, but, she just felt the need to confide in someone who she knew would be understanding. Not that Peter wasn't understanding, it was just nice to see someone that she didn't have the desire to peck all over the face.

"H-how long have you been here?" Allie flinched at his inquiry. Everything came into a blur throughout the time. But she had kept track by scratching in the days past on the wall beneath her bed. It added up to roughly ten years, which she couldn't believe. It felt as if she'd been in there thousands of years. Each day went by as slow as grass growing. In the winter.

"About… ten years," at that response, Hank showed Allie the longest frown she thought she'd ever seen. Unless she looked in the mirror but that was another story.

Allie found herself pulled into Hank's chest by his caring arms, and he gently embraced her there in the middle of the war plane.

"I'm so sorry. If we knew we would've tried to come sooner..." Allie shook her head and pulled away from the Beast. That was something impossible and the mutant felt that those long years were just meant to happen, lesson of some sorts. It was out of anyone's cards to be undone. The last thing she needed was more people blaming themselves for something that just had to occur for the sick likes of Stryker.

"It's okay Hank. I mean, I am stronger," Allie sighed, staring down at her black stained fingertips. The charcoaly coating hadn't moved any further down her hand, so it was probably okay to assume it would just be remaining there.

Then suddenly Peter was by her side, causing a gush of wind to plague both Allie and Hank.

The other two mutants fixed their hair as Peter just allowed his to slowly fall back into place, taking the girl's fingers. He held Allie's hand close to his face, staring at the dark pigmentation on them.

What the hell was that black shit all over her fingers?

"Hey Allie, do you need to wash your hands or something? Cause when I ran around for a second checking everything out, I saw a sink," Peter stated quickly, attempting to be helpful. But Allie shook her head. They had a lot to talk about.

"It's a side effect from the enhancement of my abilities," both Hank and Peter stared down at her quizzically. They both remembered what David had explained from what goes on in Weapon X, but they didn't exactly know everything in fine detail. "There were tests, and then experiments. They made my abilities physical."

"What do you m-" Hank was interrupted by Allie who raised her hand in between the three of them, palm side up, and with a puff of black smoke, a dark spider appeared in her hand. Hank backed away but still stared on curiously. Allie pushed her arms towards Peter, gesturing for him to touch the creature. To which he did, and he was fully capable of picking the bug up and holding it in his own hands.

"Woahh," he exclaimed, shooting a smile in Allie's direction. Agh, that smile. Allie could've melted right then and there. But it only melted the spider from Allie's loss of concentration. Hank returned to the conversation after the bug was gone.

"How were the experiments?" Ouch. Allie was flooded with memories of pain at just thinking about the experiments. She hesitated, and the two men already knew what her answer would be because of it.

"Painful. Not something you want to do to someone else," Hank nodded solemnly and patted Allie's shoulder, walking back to the control system at the head of the war plane.

Peter then stepped in front of Allie, taking her hands within his. The smile from before was nonexistent from his face.

"Allie, I'm- I'm sorry for not coming to get you. It's just-"

"Peter," Allie stopped him right there. "It was meant to happen. I'm just happy that I'm here with you now. Those ten years were worth it if I could finally see you again."

Peter couldn't take it anymore. He was about to swoop down and kiss Allie like he'd never kissed anyone before, but then the rest of the group waltzed up onto the plane and he just didn't feel the need for Scott to say, 'get a room.' So instead the gray haired mutant hugged Allie quickly and led her over to the seats on the left wall.

"Thank you, Allie. And I swear we will go pester Stacey after all this. Cause she like, still works at Franklin's," Peter was happy to hear the chuckle come from Allie's lips as they secured themselves in their respective seats. He couldn't imagine how empty the time spent in that facility was for Allie. That was probably the first time she'd actually laughed out of joy in years and Peter was just glad he was the one who initiated it.

"So, what's been happening in your life?" Allie asked Peter, lightly knocking her fist against his. He sort of felt sick at that one. Does he tell her about Erik or about his failed track career? Erm, maybe it would be better not to talk about either, just because there were other people listening in on the conversation. Ahem, Kurt and Scott. They were both looking at him and Allie like they were watching two wild animals stand up on their back legs and have a full english conversation with each other.

Peter blew a bubble from his gum, attempting to stall. But it popped faster than he anticipated.

"Erm, nothin' much. Just some new bands is all," Peter said nonchalantly, to which Allie bought with a lopsided grin. Phew.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you," Allie turned to see the blonde woman staring expectantly at her, like she knew the younger mutant would have trouble understanding where they'd seen each other before.

"Ah- I- sorry. I can't remember you," Allie stuttered to the woman, trying to place where exactly she could have seen her before the kidnappings. But it was a no go, she didn't seem familiar at all.

"You helped me not to kill Trask," Allie stared at the blonde, now understanding that she was Mystique, just under a more human looking form. So that was her. Right there once more, caught up in some huge fiasco as per usual. Allie just straightened up a bit and nodded.

"Yeah, now I remember," she sighed, bringing her hand up to pop one of Peter's bubbles. They both laughed quietly as it fell flat all over his face. Scott couldn't handle it anymore.

"Are you two like, a thing?" He asked, eyes squinted beneath his red glasses. Allie and Peter both paused, the latter looking over to the blonde for a bit of back up. It was time to gamble the chances, and Allie decided to take the high road.

She nodded and took Peter's hand in hers. "Yep."

Well, if Peter would've know that shit he wouldn't have rushed to get back in with the group the second he saw Allie in the corridor. Damnnnnnn.

Scott nodded slowly, one eyebrow raised above the other. Beside him, Jean smiled happily at the two. She saw how distraught Allie had been in the past from being ripped away from Peter and how upset she was with herself that she mourned their loss every night until she fell to nightmares. Jean couldn't understand how the other mutant was able to stay relatively alive in the facility for so long, feeling so alone and heart broken.

Jean was personally beaming on the inside that they were now back together as they really should've been all those years ago.

Peter squeezed Allie's hand, feeling complete. All those years of absolute shit were made up for in that moment. Nothing mattered to him anymore with Allie beside him. Well, except for their fast travel to whatever guy who was trying to squish the earth into something he wanted to rule for himself. But otherwise, he couldn't be happier.

There was a long stretch of silence, until a slightly unnerved Jean spoke up, turning to Raven. "Were you scared?" The blonde glanced over at the younger mutant. "That day in D.C. were you scared?"

"No," Raven said briskly, turning back away for a few moments. Something must've clicked in her head, because she decided to attempt her best at consoling Jean. "But I was scared on my first mission," she turned back to the mutant, giving her a knowing look.

"I was on a plane like this with my friends. About your age," Raven nodded to Jean, as the other mutant awaited the next few details. The blonde then turned to stare at seemingly nothing, most likely having a nostalgic moment; just reliving the good times. A small smile creeped up to her face. "We called ourselves the X-Men."

Peter smiled and looked over at Allie, waving his brows up and down at hearing the conversation. Almost like he was saying, 'pay attention, she usually isn't this nice.'

"Your brother was there," Raven then said, looking down past Jean to Scott, who quickly turned to look at her. "We used to call him havoc. He was a real handful, but when it came down to it, he was very brave."

Scott stared intently at the woman, hanging off her each and every word. She seemed to be finished speaking, and he turned back to face forward, mulling over what good his brother had done. And how he wanted to follow in his footsteps. Be brave. Make a difference in the world instead of just living in it, having an insignificant purpose. He was given the chance to help, and he would take it.

"What happened to the other kids that went with you?" Kurt asked curiously, obviously wondering more about the memory than everyone else. "The X-Men," he clarified, trying to be a bit more specific. A silent tension fell over them as Raven fought for the right words.

"Hank and I are the only ones left," she said quickly, looking to Kurt without much emotion. Though you could tell that many were rushing through her at the thought. "I couldn't save the rest of them."

Allie swallowed. She thought about all the people that she was forced to kill. How she wasn't able to spare their lives like she'd wished to. She knew for a fact that those mutants, and even the rats of the facility, were all good on the inside. If only not put under the influence of Stryker, they all most likely would not have done wrong in the world. Just lived in it like any other person would.

But she'd keep telling herself what she'd said all throughout the ten years of lonely nights. It wasn't meant to go any other way.

"I told you I'm not a hero," Raven said sadly, staring back into space. Jean wasn't having the reply.

"But you're a hero to us. Seeing you that day on T.V. changed my life," she said matter of factly, looking up to remember the day when she was flipping through channels with her mother, trying to find a good signal until they came across a vibrant image of a blue woman holding a gun to a group of men, hidden inside some sort of large metal box. Then some blonde walked up...

Jean turned to take a glance at Allie, but couldn't exactly decide whether she was the girl she had seen on television that day. Perhaps she was, perhaps she wasn't. The mutant would just have to figure it out later. In that moment, she had to make something clear to Raven.

"Mine too," Kurt said.

"Mine too," Peter spoke up at last, looking over at Raven. "I mean I still live in my mom's basement. But, pfft, everything else is uh, well it's pretty much the same," he chuckled, smiling over at Allie. She returned it and watched as everyone else there held a better mind after his comment.

"I'm a total loser," Peter then confessed. He got more people laughing.

Some time passed before the scenery outside changed. It went from bright and sunny deserts to… dark and cloudy wastelands. Everyone was watching as the outside morphed into something that only looked like a disaster. One that was soon going to spread further out across the entire world if nothing stopped it.

Then, a pyramid came into view. Allie hadn't known that were was a fourth one. A really big fourth one.

"Seventh Wonder twelve o'clock," Hank said as sporadic noise blared throughout the plane, worrying everyone inside. Raven stood, taking a steady hold of two bars behind the beast. She couldn't believe her eyes. There were spirals of debris floating through the air as more and more structures were being torn down. Everything was destined to be destroyed.

"He has the professor in the center of the pyramid," Jean said, her mind obviously somewhere else in that moment. Raven turned, awaiting more information. "He's going to transfer his consciousness into the professor. If he does that, he will have the power to control every mind in the world." The beeping sounds were the only thing to be heard as the real danger of the situation set in.

Hank did his best to pull around the pyramid to find a settled place to land, when Moira spoke up.

"What the hell is that?" She questioned, looking down to where she saw some weird bubbled consisted of broken debris. It looked like it was moving along with the spirals of rock and metal.

"It's Erik," Raven said, staring down at the pea sized man who hovered in the center of the sphere. By that point, Peter was up and straight behind Hanks seat, staring intensely at the small figure. Allie looked on curiously, wondering what his quick fascination with Magneto was.

Raven turned to observe each of the mutants, figuring out who would take on who once they found themselves on the ground.

"You guys help Nightcrawler get into the pyramid," she commanded. "Get Charles," Allie nodded to herself and mentally prepared for the battle the would for sure be coming within a matter of minutes. "I'll take care of Erik."

"How are you going to get through that?" Hank asked. Erik was literally elevated in the air, a shield of broken debris surrounding him. There was no way Raven could just strut right up to him and ask him to stop aiding to the destruction of the world.

"I can get you in there," Peter said, turning to Raven. "I came here for him, let me help you," the mutant nodded while Allie sat yet, then staring at the back of Peter's head with confusion. Why the hell was he there for Erik?

"The rest of you, get Charles on this plane and get him outta here." Another demand from Raven.

"We are not leaving without you." Kurt told the two mutants up front. He stole the words right from Allie's mouth.

"Don't worry," Peter reassured Kurt. "We'll catch up."

By that point, Allie was struggling to unstrap herself from her seat to try to come up to Peter, but Hank was having a bit of an issue maneuvering the plane around all the flying debris. She'd probably end up falling on her ass without the security of the belts.

"Hold on," he said, veering a hard right. They went straight to the ground and had a fairly uneventful landing.

Everyone was up and moving, piling out of the plane quickly, heading to where all the action was happening. Peter waited for Allie to stumble out off the ramp and follow up with the group. He had a bit of explaining after they finished that day up.

"Are you going to be okay taking on Erik?" Allie asked Peter, walking alongside of him. He nodded hesitantly. It made Allie pretty suspicious.

"Yep," he said, looking down at her. "Are you going to be okay?"

Allie nodded as well. "I've been itching to do harm to the people that deserve it." Peter wasn't able to ask more, as Raven was back to setting up a plan for the team, which was definitely needed at the moment.

"Hank you go with the kids, Moira will be waiting on the plane," Raven said, walking dead straight towards the ever continuing destruction.

"Wait," Scott said, stopping behind the two older mutants. "Not all of us can fully control our powers," Allie believed that one. Jean seemed to have no problem slipping into people's minds, even if she didn't try it. And, well, the only thing keeping Scott and his eye lasers at bay were a pair of shifty sunglasses. Very scientific sunglasses but still simply a small accessory.

Raven stared at him, looking between him and Jean. "Then don't," she shook her head. "You need to embrace them," then Mystique took a step forward, her eyes softer then. "We all do," her typical cosmetic look was taken over by her natural blue scales, ending with the red hair atop her head. Allie stared on at her, remembering their encounter at Washington more so than ever. It was strange to see Raven fighting on the same side without so much opinion difference. It was almost refreshing.

The small moment of self appreciation came to a hold as Peter slipped on his goggles, giving Allie one last meaningful glance, a small smile on his face. He held Raven as per usual when zooming someone here and there, and did just that. Allie sighed, wishing Peter mounds of good luck and hopes of safety before booking it to the action with the other mutants.

Everyone clambered down through the debris, coming up upon what looked to once be the window of a home. Though it was practically almost all ripped away. Allie couldn't imagine how scared and hopeless those people felt, just having a somewhat normal day until hearing Charles' voice in their heads. Then next thing they knew, everything was being torn up from the ground. Even everything they built. Their lives were destroyed.

Allie pushed away the sad thoughts and focused intensely on the pyramid in front of her.

"There's an entrance, it's clear," Hank stated from beside Allie, his gaze locked on the opening down at the bottom of the slope of the structure. Allie was about to say that she'd go in and attempt to help Charles, but the sudden sight of a man with what seemed to be razor blade type wings jutted into view.

"Kurt get in there!" Hank yelled to the other darker blue mutant, who disappeared into a cloud of smoke, right as the flying guy flung literal metallic feathers at the group. Luckily for them, Jean's kinetic abilities instantly took hold, levitating an array of concrete rocks to prevent any injuries. All of the sharp impalers fell to the ground with clatters.

Once the flying man noticed the disappearance of Kurt, he quickly did what looked like a soaring U-turn straight back into the pyramid.

"In the pyramid, move," Hank said hurriedly. He didn't know how well the Kurt kid could handle combat, but he hoped it was good enough to allow time for them to fetch Charles. "Go!"

Allie ran, following Jean and Scott to the opening in the pyramid, but there was a great flash of light from in front of the red head, causing everyone to stop in their tracks. The tell tale sign of electric bolts zipped through the air. As soon as the bolts appeared, the fell away to the form of a young woman standing menacingly in front of the other mutants. She had glowing white eyes that seemed to match perfectly with her feathered mohawk hair. Allie thought it was a strange look but she realized she missed out on ten years of fashion trends. Hell, maybe everyone had mohawks.

The girl raised her arms, an instant flood of increasing winds whipped through the mutants as it seemingly became stronger and stronger. Then, the mohawk girl propelled all of the sandy gusts beside her, to a nearby car between herself and the group. Which, had the vehicle soaring through the air, coming straight for Allie and Hank.

Allie flung herself to the ground, narrowly missing being thrown back and probably close to being killed by the thing. As she turned around to make sure Hank was okay, she was surprised to see him wielding the car, spinning it in a circle as if ready to launch it right back at the mohawk girl.

Scott removed his glasses, hopelessly aiming for where the mohawk girl had been standing put as she observed the ruckus she caused. This made her fall to the ground, attempting to evade the red beams from sizzling her to a pile of ashes. Which was perfect, because Hank finally got that car to go flying right for her stunned body.

What Allie didn't expect was some lasery pink sword slash the entire car in half before it made it's mark. Out from behind it came a scantily clad woman with a real sword in her other hand, and a badass look upon her face.

Damn, Allie thought. That was kinda cool.

Allie could see that the swordswoman said something to her partner, which probably wasn't good. But Allie was ready, seeing the mohawk girl get ready to impede another round of harsh weather for the mutants. That time though, it was pretty hot lighting coming from the palms of her hands and aimed right at each of them.

Scott ran off in the rear, going to hide behind an abandoned truck to avoid the shock. Allie followed him, taking cover quickly, not trusting to be out in the open. And also, he had like, superman lasers coming from his eyes. How cool was that shit?

But Allie didn't have long to gush about the half superman mutant she was with as mohawk girl was flying around their hiding spot, just itching to zap them to death. Scott wasn't having it however, and whipped off his glasses to release the array of red beams from his eyes once more.

Allie decided that her trip there wasn't going to end up like the one at the Pentagon: doing literally nothing to help. So she ran out, taking Scott's distraction to her advantage and quickly read through some ranked out fears. Well, she wasn't surprised to see fear of death inside the little mohawk girls mind. Wasn't almost everyone afraid of that? Especially when you are aiding the end of free humankind.

That was all Allie needed to send a fleet of black shadow men to do their mission which she had set for them. And it would be simple enough, as mohawk girl was busy putting everything she had into fighting off Scott's powerful red beams.

But then, he was gone. And mohawk girl's attention was soon averted to Allie, who was standing just below her with her shadow mercenaries. What the fuck Scott.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Well shit.

Allie was really in a bad position, standing in the middle of mass destruction with utmost vulnerability. Obviously Kurt had gotten the professor by that time and was running around, teleporting everyone back to the plane with probably some sort of lung disease from whatever god damn puff of smoke he left off. Well Allie would rather die from lung disease than getting electrocuted to death in the wake of mohawk lady. But that wasn't going to happen because someone forgot all about her. Which she couldn't blame Kurt for not remembering, as Allie wasn't exactly there through the shit fest the entire time.

So there she was, an awkward fleet of nightmares standing around the blonde. Mohawk girl looking patronizingly down at Allie with a smirk, matched with taunting white eyes. That is, until the blonde mutant's shadowed men began launching rocks through the air at her, as they couldn't reach the girl from the ground. It happened so simultaneously that when ten decently sized rocks hit mohawk in various places, she lost concentration and fell to the ground. But much too gracefully for Allie to be proud.

But now the real work could begin, since the shadow men were capable of reaching mohawk.

Allie took the girl's stunned stance to her advantage and speedily tackled her to the ground, legs locking onto her hips like a vice. She landed one blow to the mohawks face but was almost immediately engulfed in a fiery feeling all over her body. Mohawk, thinking the she finished Allie with that one trick released the bolts and pushed the blonde off her, the other mutant's body sizzling with electricity. But in only a few moments the burning sensation disappeared and was replaced with intense anger; one that burned more than those electric bolts. Sort of. Those did hurt like hell.

The shadow men must've faded during the split moment of staggering pain that Allie felt, so she slowly formed them into the world once more. Though only five appeared behind her that time, as the electric mutant's confident was high in that moment. And mohawk didn't notice a single thing because of that, jogging away smugly. Ohhhh fuuuck youuuu, Allie thought, looking down by her feet with interest.

She picked up a rock like her first tactic idea and jogged forward a few steps as well before throwing it with all her might. Bullseye.

Mohawk literally clutched her mohawk which was beginning to stain red from the gash left in the back of her head from the rock making hard contact to her skull. Allie snorted at the observation, walking towards the once more shocked and stunned mutant. Of all the things, Allie was the one that threw rocks at her enemies, like a child. It was doing the trick at least.

Again, mohawk surprised Allie with a flash of lighting which just barely missed it's mark on Allie, but rather dispersed a few of the shadow men behind her. There were only two left, and they took a moment or so to pull back in the smoke that had left their forms.

But then there was a very odd soaring sound coming from behind the two mutants, and Allie watched as the giant war plane which had almost everyone on their team going nose down into the earth, seemingly going invisible behind a few still standing buildings, only to have a large explosion take it's place. Allie put a quick hand to her mouth, forgetting all about mohawk. Oh. Shit.

Allie turned back around seeing a blur of white and gray come racing at her in a flash, using the tackle move. Mohawk learned much from her.

That time, Allie's shadow men didn't fail her, and came up behind mohawk, grabbing the back of her cape and flinging her body across the courtyard. There was no way Allie would initiate more scuffles. She needed to find Peter.

So the blonde allowed her shadow men to roughly spring her back on her feet, then she made them disappear into clouds of smoke before taking off towards where she could barely see Erik's large force field still spinning hard at work.

By the time Allie was nearing the debris filled sphere, she could hear the angered echos of someone yelling. Calling out a name. Charles.

"CHARLES!" Allie could hear it like it was right in her ear, and with a pile of curiosity building up within her, she slowly scattered up a broken down building, peeking out just enough for her to see a truly terrifying sight. It was the man who must've given the message using Charles. The one that wanted to ruin everything- the entire world as they knew it. She instinctively knew it was him; just the vibe he gave off, the power radiating from him. He only had one fear: to lose that same power that he gave off. He was Apocalypse.

"Show yourself!" He screamed again, arms flexed by his sides in pure aggravation. He slowly strode out to where there was less trash littering the area, so then he wouldn't look like the garbage king. Then some strange shit happened that Allie could only guess was the works of Peter Maximoff himself. Blow after blow, it seemed as if Apocalypse wasn't given the slightest chance to even hit the ground before he received another fist to the face. His body flew around on account of something unseen, making a smirk pull at her lips.

Allie would've applauded if she didn't peer up see mohawk standing little ways off, watching the entire seen unfold. Then the electric mutant's face turned to shock, and Allie worriedly looked back down to find Peter's leg caught in dirt. But some pretty concrete-y dirt. And he couldn't get out; not even when Apocalypse began approaching him with dreadfully slow, dangerous steps.

Peter tried. He tried really fucking hard to get out of the grip of whatever the hell he was stuck in, though it wouldn't let go.

"Foolish child," Apocalypse cooed, catching Peter's fist when he threw it at his blue face in attempts to possibly save himself. The powerful mutant twisted his arm back to a terrifying angle. Allie swore she could hear something crack as she wordlessly watched, unable to scream. But she did when the blue bastard kicked Peter's knee in, causing it to turn in at a ninety degree angle. His screams of pure agony finally snapped Allie of her stunned reaction.

"PETER!" She shrieked, hopping off the building top, running towards the other mutant without giving two shits that Apocalypse himself was standing right there. But the blue mutant did give two shits once Allie was right beside Peter because he instantly formed a huge rock out of nothing really, and dropped it right onto Allie's arm. And good God were her and Peter both screaming their heads off at that point.

Allie looked up, seeing that pink sword wielding bitch walk slowly up to Apocalypse, who held Peter by his hair, leaving his neck exposed for a bloody execution.

"Shit, shit. No put him the fuck down," Allie cursed, looking up at the blue mutant who turned away from her. She didn't know if it was just her but the rock felt like it was gaining weight. "Peter I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Peter just looked down at Allie the best he could by straining his eyes. He tried fighting for words but for fucks sake his leg was bent outwards at an angle not even a contortionist could dream of. So he just went with mouthing the words, 'I love you,' between pained pants.

"End him," the dark haired woman was in front of Peter then, and Apocalypse ripped his head back further so all he could just look to the sky and hope someone stopped his death soon. He prayed that if he did die right then and there, they would leave Allie alone and she'd make it out alive- make it to Charles and be safe. But then he was surprised to see that there was somehow a slit in Apocalypse's throat instead of his. Only after the powerful mutant grabbed his horseman by the throat did he let go of Peter, who instantly looked to Allie.

She was desperately trying to move the rock that felt like it had the weight of a boulder from on top of her forearm, to which she was making progress. Despite his pain, Peter began shoving the rock as well, aiding to the faster movement.

"The great hero," Apocalypse slurred. The two injured mutants paused in their great task and looked up, finding that Raven was held in the powerful mutants deadly hand, constricting her throat instead of his true accomplice. "You are feeble, just like the others." Raven was raised higher, the pressure on her neck increasing.

"CHARLES!" Apocalypse bellowed, holding out Mystique as a lure. "Come rescue your weakling!" The mutant gestured to the other, whose mutation was beginning to overreact, scales gliding up and down her skin but not ever changing the cosmetic appearance. "Give your life, for theirs!"

Raven began going limp, though her scales still moved sporadically as if calling for help. "Charles? Will you do nothing?!" After that, Apocalypse went silent, his attitude changing from taunting to concentrated, almost as if he was confused. Then he suddenly became wary, dropping Raven's body to the ground. Allie gasped, understanding that she might have just witnessed the Mystique die at the hands of a monster.

A few moments passed, until the powerful mutant raised his arm and a thin sheet of dust began flowing away from the buildings before him. Even the sandy rock that was on top of Allie's arm. Not much of the mass had disappeared, but it was enough to make pushing it off her a little easier. So she quickly prodded Peter and began pushing against the rock once more with his help, trying to stop her tears between the pain and the emotions.

But as per usual, something great happening stopped their efforts. Apocalypse had been walking forward, to where the mutants could only guess was where Charles had been staking out, until a large metal support clashed to the ground in front of the powerful mutant. Then another, crossing the last oppositely, making an X shape. That could only mean one thing, and one thing only.

Peter turned moments before Allie had, to see his father, Erik, approaching the scene, no longer aiding the destruction of the world, but the destruction of Apocalypse. The mutant himself turned, glaring up at what he thought could have been his most powerful horseman, but instead, he became a traitor.

"You betrayed me?" Apocalypse growled.

"No," Erik answered, looking to where Scott was standing on the balcony of the building that Apocalypse had been advancing towards before the interruption. "I betrayed them."

With much needed force, Erik felt more and more metal pieces of debris and brought them behind himself, before raining it all down onto Apocalypse who somehow had a force field under his belt, along with all the other overpowering shit he did.

Peter ducked down, grabbing Allie's hair and pulling her to the ground as well. Apocalypse was walking towards Erik, meaning that the debris were getting pretty heated right above the mutant's heads. But it soon passed and the two of them looked up to find Hank and Scott on the ground, the blue mutant running towards them. He first fetched Raven, throwing her over his shoulder. Then with his immense strength he kicked away the rock on Allie's arm like it was a soccer ball. As soon as the weight was lifted, her arm began to heal on the spot.

The last person to get released was Peter.

"Agh, c'mon," Peter groaned, looking at the ground and while Hank punched it profusely, breaking up the dried soil until it was easy enough for the trapped mutant to release himself. Once he did, Allie and Hank both helped him to the side of the battle scene, up against the wall of a broken down building, but far enough away from the violence that nothing more would attack them. Hopefully.

The three of them were stacked against the wall thanks to Hank and he quickly took off thereafter, Allie looking on as things became heated. Apocalypse was somehow stronger than everyone and everything that was coming at him, the amount of power her possessed apparent. His weird ass shield was fending it all off much to all of the mutant's displeasure. Allie was beginning to have doubts about being capable of defeating the ancient mutant, more so as she watched Hank get thrown into yet another car, much like the Washington scenario with the robot.

Scott's eye lasers were coming back on him, causing the boy a great deal of exhaustion and pain. He slipped on his glasses and of course Apocalypse took it to his advantage and flung the boy back against the wall behind him. Then the molding of the elements occurred, making the wall crawl up and around Scott, forcing his arms and legs immobile.

"Hank!" He called, but the Beast was passed out on the ground, unable to help those around him.

Apocalypse was on the move once more, and Peter and Allie watched as he neared to what seemed to be Jean, walking towards him as well on the balcony to which Charles was hiding. She had no look of fear on her face- Allie could feel it. And that was more terrifying than Apocalypse's angered sneer. She kept stalking towards him, until she was taking her crisp steps mid air, like she was walking on an invisible floor. It gave Allie chills all up her sore arms. In that moment, she could feel the true power surging through Jean's veins. She would save them.

Jean paused, still standing in the air. Then she let out an ear splitting war cry, allowing an array of something similar to flames escape her. But Allie could tell that whatever it was, it was worse than fire. The power Jean put forth ripped Apocalypse apart, tearing off his armor and even disbanding his shield. The ancient mutant was completely vulnerable and everyone was ready to take their goes at him.

Erik brought the metal supports and rods all down to Apocalypse, trapping him in his place, some impaling him all the while. At that point, Hank had come back to the real world and rushed over to Scott who was yet confined to the wall, but was quickly freed thanks to the blue mutant. As soon as his arm was free, the glasses came off. The beam was effective for some time, but yet another force field began encasing Apocalypse, saving him from the pain. Though even that couldn't save him.

Allie's earlier opponent mohawk girl was sending out electric bolts onto the shield, causing it to slowly fall away and leaving the ancient mutant a target for everyone. And within another few moments, it was over. Apocalypse was dead.

The sun shown through the clouds, it's rays falling onto a terrifyingly peaceful setting. Hank and Scott quickly returned to Charles while mohawk and Erik loitered around in the debris.

"Oh my god," Allie said with a breathy laugh, slowly turning to Peter. "We did it." The gray haired mutant tried forcing a smile, but failed miserably when it just looked like he was crying instead. Which he wasn't, but that's just how it looked when your leg was broken on so many levels. But Allie knew how to make him happy.

She pulled Peter close, taking his arm and throwing it around her shoulder before she crashed her lips onto his. He instantly returned the movement until he pulled away, wincing at the slightest change in leg position. He sighed, pulling Allie closer so her head rest on his shoulder.

"Can we try this again when I don't have an Apocalypse fucked leg?" He asked, wiggling off his goggles. Allie nodded, staring up at him. She was leaning on her right arm, like it hadn't had a tons worth of rock on it just ten minutes before. "Hey you should probably stay off your arm," Peter stated, wincing between his words. The blonde looked down, pulling her arm out from its wedged position between her body and the wall. She held it up to Peter's view.

"When I was captured, they fed me healing shit. Now I don't need to worry about minor injuries," Allie would have smiled at the recollection if not for the only purpose of the formula were to be that she wouldn't die in battle, being used as a super soldier for an entirely wrong cause. Peter nodded while looking sympathetically at Allie, staring down at her stained fingertips. He really wanted to know just what happened to her but yet he didn't want to bring up bad memories, to make Allie live through something she didn't want to yet.

Allie looked up at Peter, instinctively knowing that he was thinking about what all happened when she was gone. She had some questions of her own but she didn't think that his answers were going to be awfully hard for him to bite out. But she never knew. Bad stuff happens to everyone, whether they are in a secret torture facility or not.

One day later...

Allie sat with Peter, colorful markers littering their hospital bed.

"Yeah, draw whatever your heart desires," Peter confirmed, Allie curled at the end of the mattress with a black marker in hand as she thought of something to draw onto his cast. A ridiculously lit bulb went off in her mind.

"Want me to draw a pinup girl for your manly needs?" Peter looked at Allie, a weird expression on his face.

"Uh, whatever made you think of that one," he laughed, looking down at Allie already outlining the figure of an overtly curvy woman on the side of his leg.

"Because. Girls are the only thing I'm good at drawing," Allie responded, adding fluffy hair to the girl's head. Then came the clothing outline. Some sort of skimpy yet quirky 80s running outfit. But it was very fashionable, like a runway model went out for a jog just before her competition.

"Can you draw me an arcade game after the weirdly dressed woman is done?" Peter asked, thinking that he'd find more interest from one of his greatest passions instead of a model, since he already had a girl. Wink, wink.

"Mhm," Allie hummed, concentrating on her artwork. It was nice just sitting and relaxing in the clean hospital, enjoying each others company. It was the best feeling Allie had ever hoped for after so much agonizing time spent away. She just wished her mother was there to see it as well- to see the end of the storm. She was just glad Peter hadn't engaged in a conversation about-

"Hey Allie, I've been meaning to ask you something," shit.

"What would that be," Allie paused in her drawing to look up at Peter, her eyes wide with anticipation. She was already forming a string of words in her head to explain what all happened within the facility.

"Did you actually mean it when you said we were a thing? Back on the plane," Peter asked, looking at Allie with a hopeful expression. Allie couldn't imagine ever saying no to him.

"Yes, of course I did," she confirmed for him, carefully crawling over his legs to come up beside him. She set her marker on the side table before bringing her hands back up, holding his face to make him look her in the eye.

"I love you," Allie told him, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. "And I've loved you those whole ten years I was away." Peter looked down, a smile flowing in and off of his face. But it finally stuck and he turned back, wrapping his arms around Allie's waist before kissing her once more, but passionately that time. He no longer felt alone in his feelings as he had fearfully done for so long. Allie reciprocated them as well and that was all that mattered to Peter. He felt complete and finally happy after a number of years. His past no longer haunted him because his future had finally changed. All because Allie was right there in it.

The girl was first to pull away, slightly out of breath and she didn't exactly feel like looking as if she was a dying dog in front of Peter. She brought her head down, placing it gently in the crook of his neck, forgetting all about the girl on his leg who was waiting to have less bland clothes on her body. She could be patient. Allie was going to get Peter first that day.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Peter was finally up and walking, with crutches of course. It was the day after the art activity day which consisted of drawing on his cast and Allie lying beside him, occasionally pecking each other for shits and giggles. They were in love. What else was there to do but explore? Hell, Allie was pretty sure that it was their first relationship, the both of them. But, the blonde decided to confirm it that day as she drove Peter up to Charles' mansion. Or where it used to be before Apocalypse had apparently fucked it up.

"So, Maximoff. Was there anyone before me?" Allie asked him, switching the radio aimlessly, finding that they barely played music she liked- or much rather even heard of. Though she was sure she could adjust, as not all of it sounded bad.

"And here you go folks," the radio announcer broadcasted his lovable voice, sounding overtly cheerful as he introduced the next song. "Duran Duran, Hungry Like the Wolf coming right up." A catchy synthetic tune picked up crackly, matched with nice strums of the electric guitar and the hard beats of drums. Yeah, Allie really could get used to the 80s music.

"Well," Peter trailed, rolling his window down a crack, stalling the best he could. "There was this girl… in ninth grade… her name was Darcy. Then after that there was Caroline. Then Heather. And Chelsea." Allie stared ahead, looking bewildered at the yellow lines flying continuously past Peter's Camaro. Damn, he must've been going strong in 1970.

"Was that literally all going on in one school year?" Peter nodded, moving his leg to a bit more comfortable position.

"It's called puberty Allison. You'll learn one day, ya late bloomer," Allie feigned a gasp, looking down at her figure. During her time in the facility she had gained a bit more curves, having discovered what hips truly were one day in the cold shower room. In fact she didn't look like dangly teenage Allie any longer. Perhaps if she got some food in her and gained a bit of her weight back, she'd look like a normal young woman.

"I am not a late bloomer!" Allie cried, looking over to Peter with an offended smile. She wasn't real bothered though, knowing he was all jokes. If he had an issue with it, he wouldn't have started dating her. Peter just turned to look at Allie with a mischievous smile splayed on his lips. What did he have planned?

"I'm just kidding. Trust me, I know you're not a late bloomer," damn, that smooth son of a bitch. Allie looked over at him, as he purposely fled his eyes up and down her figure with a bit lip, to which she floored the gas pedal. It instantly jarred Peter backward, causing him to almost get whiplash. But Peter Maximoff does not just get whiplash. Allie pushed the brakes, slowing their speed back to legal limits. Peter fell back to his seat with the sudden shift in speeds.

He looked over at Allie with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I almost didn't expect that," was all he said before laughing out loud, rubbing his neck which had become a little sore. "I'm going to get back at you soon. Just you wait Simmons."

"You're gonna prank this face?" Allie questioned him, turning to give Peter her best puppy eyed look she could muster, hoping that it would change his vengeful intentions. He would most certainly be an elaborate prankster, knowing their past playground shenanigans. And that shit is rough. He'd probably drop cement on her head as she was walking out of her own home or something completely ridiculous.

"Agh," Peter groaned, holding up crossed index fingers, creating a cross as if fending off a demon. "Not the eyes!" He cried.

It was going to be an interesting ride all the way up to Charles' home.

Half and hour later...

"Can we call your mom and have her mail us my crutches. These are pieces of shit," Allie commented on the hospital's walking sticks as one had somehow gotten jammed upon trying to get it out of the back door. Peter sat in the passenger's side seat, watching Allie struggle with a humored smile on his face. The blonde had about enough of the crutch and brought her foot up, kicking the bottom of it. Successfully, it fell horizontal. Perfect.

Peter was up and standing in no time, slipping his markers into the breast pocket of his jacket. People were gonna want to sign his cast as soon as he entered the crowd that had gather before he mansion. And there were definitely a lot of them there. The entire courtyard was filled with students, waiting around for something productive to happen. There were piles of wood and stone lying around, patiently lying still to be used soon enough.

The two mutants shuffled slowly towards the front of the crowd, coming to a stop as Jean and Erik were approaching the scattered materials around the old foundation of the Xavier mansion. They both raised their hands, extending their arms out before them. And then the construction began. It was like a moment of pulling the mutant race back together.

Allie leaned into Peter, who put an arm around her shoulders, watching everything morph back into the mansion once more, just as they'd remembered it. Erik worked with the stone while Jean carefully conducted the placement of the wood structures. It was almost mesmerizing to watch, the manipulates working carefully together with utmost focus.

Peter sighed, hearing someone come up on his right side.

"Mystique told me he is your father," Allie turned, hearing the word 'father' come out of mohawk's mouth as she conversed with Peter. "Are you going to tell him?" The gray haired mutant turned to look up at Erik's floating form, concentrating on the construction before him.

"I might, one day. For now I'm just going to stick around here for a while," Peter said, bringing his arm away from Allie's shoulders to put his sunglasses on. His arm quickly found it's way back as mohawk chuckled, almost unbelievably.

"Me too," she said, staring off to the mansion which looked even more beautiful then. She could only imagine what it would appear as a finished product. There was no doubt in her mind that it would be charming.

Allie turned, watching as mohawk slowly walked away and back towards where Raven stood, hands on her hips as she admired the forthcoming mansion with Charles by her side. It was a nice, heart warming sight. She knew from the way the professor talked about her throughout the time the the blonde was able to spend with him, he loved Raven. They were brother and sister, no matter how dramatically they fought each other on their opinions. Love was something hard to throw away once you've kept it going through hell and back.

And Allie knew that she felt that way about Peter. Just a bit less platonically. They definitely were put through hell. Ten years without seeing each other and yet their feelings for one another burned bright and hot despite the agony they both nearly perished in. In a situation like that, there was no way that their relationship would be stolen so easily. The blonde was happy for it.

But that didn't stop her from being confused and hopelessly left out of the loop.

"What did she say?" Allie asked, returning her gaze to Peter, squinting up at him. She still yearned for her long lost sunglasses as the brightness of the day attacked her brown orbs. Though they probably weren't exactly the hit style any longer. She absently wondered how John Lennon was doing.

"Well," Peter said, hushing his voice to a whisper. "You see that guy up there?" Allie nodded, looking to Erik's levitating figure.

"Yeah, Magneto," Allie mocked, feigning a weirdly European accent that was probably a rural mix of twenty seven countries speech. Peter just threw her a twisted smirk and continued on, explaining to her his big secret.

"He's my dad," he whispered to her, stumbling a little as he lost his balance. Allie was quick to help him back to his crutches, along with her shoulder, giving her no where near enough time to mull over the new information she was given. Peter Maximoff. Erik Lensherr. Father and son?

"H-how do you know?" Peter sighed, looking down at Allie's confused state. She'd like to think that Erik was the best kind of man to be in Peter's life but… she couldn't. Twice he'd turned on Charles, which the blonde stood with as he'd been a father figure to her. Who's to say Erik wouldn't do it again? Allie knew that she wouldn't make Peter choose between her and his father; that wouldn't be right of her. But, what would happen if something like a war between Charles and Erik occurred. How would they go about life?

Allie didn't want to think about the troubling thoughts any longer and tuned back into what Peter was talking about.

"-and then my mom didn't exactly want to tell me that dad was psycho until a year or so ago," so it had been his mother that finally confessed after a long stretch of what Allie considered was protecting her children. Seemed fair enough, judging by who the man was. But that didn't calm her nerves. Anything could happen and it really distressed her. She didn't want to tell Peter however, as she was fearful he would be put off by her doubt and worry. And that was the last thing she needed.

"Ah, I-I see," was all the blonde said, leaning further into Peter's body, convincing herself that he wasn't going anywhere. There was no way that he was leaving her side anytime soon. Not after just getting him back.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, pulling his arm further around her shoulders protectively. "He wasn't exactly my first pick but at least he ain't boring. I always imagined my real dad being such a drag," Allie laughed, glad that Peter could turn a more or less serious situation into a joke. It made her feel quite a bit better.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Just… the sun," she remarked, obscurely waving her hand towards the ball in the sky. Peter just nodded smugly, fixing his sunglasses dramatically with a wide smile plastered to his face. Allie shook her head, giving him a sly middle finger. The pair broke out into a laugh upon the gesture before returning their gazes back to the mansion, which was incredibly almost completely built.

"Wait!" Peter exclaimed, once more pulling his arm away from Allie's shoulders to his jacket before fishing out a pair of round sunglasses from his army green jacket. He handed the cranberry tinted lenses to Allie who smiled upon seeing her old glasses; the ones that she lost the day she found out about her father's death... "I've held onto these all the years. To remember you, y'know," Allie nodded, turning to stand on her toes, giving Peter a small peck on the lips before pulling his arm around her once more.

"Thank you for keeping them for me," Allie thanked him, seeing Jean put the final shingle on the roof of the mansion. It was just about finished, they just needed to get furnishings for the students so there were enough sleeping quarters once more.

"Of course. I'd do anything for you."

Three days later...

They finally had their own rooms, much to everyone's delight. Charles had ordered all the furniture and with the help of Jean and Erik, everything was put accordingly around the house. Allie wouldn't have guessed that the pair were so good at interior decorating. But somehow, Erik managed to withhold the old sophisticated style of the home and Jean was able to give everything astounding embellishments. It truly looked beautiful once they finished everything up.

So as Allie walked down the hall, past Jean and Erik who stood yet, adding final touches, she waved to them. They both turned, one giving her a smile. Take your best guess at who it was.

"This house looks amazing. Just wanted to say thanks for saving the day," Allie told them, mainly keeping eye contact with Jean as Erik just seemed to scare her a little bit. Not much, but… well he threatened to kill her in Washington. A girl just can't let that go until there is some reassurance that he wouldn't actually try to do it once more.

"Thanks Allie. I could've done it without Erik but still, he was a great help," Jean replied smugly, giving Erik a quick glance. He just looked over to her with a smirk and continued placing book suspenders on the shelf.

"Well, take what you can get I suppose," Allie chuckled slowly shuffling away from the pair, shifting into the crowd of students making their way through to their bedrooms. She was on her way to a bedroom as well, just not hers. Peter had been stuck in his quarters the past few days and seemed to not get much company as he was tucked in his bed all throughout the stay. So Allie decided to visit him between laps around the mansion.

As she approached his door, she knocked lightly before letting herself in, only to come across Peter struggling to put his shirt on. His crutches tumbled to the ground just as Allie walked in, and the gray haired mutant froze in his movements once he heard the leaking commotion enter the room.

The blonde quickly closed the door, laughing as she did so.

"Are you having some minor difficulties?" She asked, peeking around the corner as she threw her shoes off beside the doorway. Peter nodded, looking as if he was a groundhog peering out of his hidey hole. His arms seemed to be in the wrong sleeves and the shirt was most likely inside out. This poor little boy must not have been able to dress himself without his mother's help.

"Yeah, I was trying to hold the crutches while like, quickly changing… but this happened," he explained, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned forward. Allie walked over to his hunched figure and slowly pulled the black Rush t-shirt from his body, flipping it inside out.

As she took her time doing so, Allie couldn't help but let her eyes slide past the tangled fabric in front of her and onto Peter's forbiddenly toned torso. He wasn't ripped but he wasn't nothing either. And if Allie would admit it, she really enjoyed the balanced observation. But not when the boy himself caught her wandering eye.

"Like what you see?" Peter asked, once more throwing the suggestive smirk into his features. Allie shook her head, her smile giving away her bluff. "That's what they all say." That got her attention.

"The hell you tryin' to do here Maximoff?" Allie questioned the boy rhetorically, not really expecting an answer. She finally managed to fix the t-shirt and began placing it over the mutants gray head.

"Well," he said between the fabric of the article. "I just want to be enough for you." Peter looked up at Allie, the t-shirt laying still on his shoulders, it's sleeves waiting to be filled. The blonde sighed, coming to sit next to the mutant, watching as he finished getting the shirt on.

"Peter, if anything, I'd be worried that I'm not enough for you," he turned to look at her, like he was beaming on the inside. The look in his eyes made Allie's entire body burn with happiness; she craved it- whatever feeling it was. It didn't matter to her what they did, as long as they weren't doing it apart anymore. She finally got him back and she couldn't help but keep feeling wonderful about how good it felt.

It was one of the best feelings she could have ever imagined.

"Well, great minds think alike, right?" With that Peter pulled Allie into a smothering kiss, pulling her close like he was afraid to lose her again. Which he was, the blonde could feel it radiating off of him in strong tidal waves. She didn't want him to be scared but she couldn't help but feel the same exact way about him. Fearful that it was too good to be true- that there was just something dark lurking around the corner, ready to pounce on their happy ending. But whatever it was, it had to worry about an entire school of mutants to defend the couple.

Something told Allie the bad luck just didn't stand a chance there.

Three days later...

Surprisingly, Peter was already able to walk on his leg again, but not run by any means. So somehow, and someway, he just had magical healing abilities too. Cause whatever Apocalypse did to his leg, it was a nasty result. But luckily for Peter, his mutation kicked in after a little more than a week and he was ready to roll. Well, sort of.

So he had been spending his time wisely, knowing that the professor had big plans in his sights for the young man. Which meant that Peter would have to have fun while it lasted, before he was put to work on Charles and Raven's idea of returning the X-Men to the scene.

That brought Allie and Peter to the mall, where they were hanging out once more with Scott, Jean and Kurt. Just under less dangerous and world crisis-y circumstances. Instead, it was just a happy relaxation day. And they would try their best to make the most of it.

"So, how about we, y'know, learn a bit more about each other," Scott said suddenly, sneakily glancing over at Jean, who already knew his intentions. She chose to just allow him to go on with what he figured was a top secret mastermind plan to get closer to her.

"Well, if you say so Scotti. I'll go first," Peter announced loudly, taking a sip of his coca-cola. "Born and raised in D.C.. I've got a sister, who might I say is getting way too fucking old. Soon going to be graduating," Allie turned to look at Peter, almost forgetting all about Wanda. She was already in high school? Holy shit, Allie had missed a lot in her time with Stryker. "And I met this thing," the gray haired mutant poked Allie's temple. "When we broke into the Pentagon together."

Scott and Jean both perked up, staring at the two mutants with wonder.

"That was you guys?" Scott asked them, leaning forward carefully. Allie nodded.

"Yeah, Hank and Charles were there too. And so was Logan but… I don't know what came of him after Erik… except for ending up with me," Peter looked nervously to Allie. He remembered Logan, who seemed like a pretty decent guy fighting for a good cause. And to find out that his father was the reason that no one knew what happened to him between the time of his apparent disappearance and reappearance made him uneasy. It made his hope for Erik dwindle a little bit. But it was not gone by any means.

"Wait a minute," Jean said quickly, recalling how when she delved into the rampant man's mind who went and murdered all the guards in the facility, she found that his name was Logan. Then, Allie had just told them that the same man ended up with her. So the Logan guy they were speaking of had played a big role in the changes of the mutant race. "That man that killed all the guards, that was him?"

Allie nodded while Peter shoved the puzzle pieces together in his mind. So that was what had caused the commotion when they were trapped in the weird anti-mutant room. Somehow Logan was trapped with Allie in the facility with Stryker, then he was let loose, killing everything he saw. Peter didn't know if he should be happy or worried that Logan was set free.

"Yeah, he was a very big help to us. I just wish I knew where he'd gone," Allie told them, sighing as she did so. Beside her, Kurt nodded, folding his hands on his lap.

"I do wish him well then," he said, giving Allie a smile. She returned it, feeling happy to have the blue mutant there to give a sensitive outlook on things. He seemed to always know how to brighten up someone's day. No matter who, and no matter how. It could be the simplest thing. Yet the small ideas were what mattered, and it seemed to be apparent that Kurt knew how to put that idea into action.

"I think we will probably see him again," Peter nodded, looking around to everyone. He more so wished that Logan would come around, maybe a little less wild, but come around all the same. He wanted to know just how different the older mutant was if not for some dire situation where they had to fight for their lives. Hell, maybe Logan was the same no matter the circumstances. The only way to find out was to see the mutant himself. But obviously that was out of their hands.

Scott sighed, "I hope not. He was crazy."

"He wasn't always crazy. Hopefully Charles can help him if he does somehow come back," Allie told Scott, not wishing for him to hold any ill will towards Logan. Technically, the older mutant didn't hurt any of them, just the guards throughout the facility. So at least that was a score on Logan's side.

The other mutant nodded, turning to Jean. "So, we kinda lost ourselves in conversation. Why don't you tell us about yourself Jean."

Peter couldn't help but laugh at the way Scott assessed the redhead.

"It sounds like we're in rehab," everyone began laughing along with Peter except for Kurt, who looked confusedly around the table.

"What- what's re… hab?" Allie turned to him, seeing as she was the only one who seemed to have heard the blue mutants question. She felt like a mother explaining something to her child.

"It's a place where people go to get away from bad habits. You- you know what I mean right?" She asked him, trying not to be entirely blunt. Kurt just looked down for a few moments, thinking about what he'd say.

"Like, gambling?" He asked, looking back up to Allie with wide eyes. She hesitantly nodded. Sure, it was basically the same concept.

By then everyone had stopped laughing and throwing in more connections to rehab, and finally turned towards Jean, ready to hear just what exactly the redhead had went through as a child. She was by far one of the most powerful of the mutants there. It'd be interesting to listen to how she took hold of the mutation, as it didn't seem like an easy one to bare.

"Well," Jean started, thinking of where exactly she should begin the background of her life. "I lived in upstate New York. I had a decent family. A sister as well," she nodded to Peter who smiled softly as he listened to her continue. "I wanted to become a teacher, professor even, but… my- my friend was killed in a car accident. And that made things go crazy."

Everyone was silent as Jean slowly willed herself to keep speaking. But her friends sadness was creeping under her skin as their mind affected her, making herself even more depressed as she recounted everything that brought her to Charles.

"The release of my mutation was that strong that it put me into a coma. Then my parents got Charles, who helped me. I've been here ever since he had done so," Scott, who was sitting next to Jean, made a move to grab her hand. But not because he was set on making a real move, but because he felt that no one had done so for her in a long time. He thought that his mutations discovery was bad. But not as bad as being put into a coma after the death of a friend. He was glad that he was able to sizzle up that douchebag from his old school.

"That's about it I guess," Jean swallowed her tears, not allowing any to escape. The contact of Scott's hand on hers made the pain numb slightly. She was definitely glad that he could just sense that the support was needed.

"God bless your friend, Jean," Kurt said soothingly, smiling softly at her from across the table. Jean nodded in thanks to the mutant, looking at him pointedly.

"How about you go next Kurt," the Nightcrawler beamed at everyone around him and sat a bit straighter, fixing his thriller jacket dramatically.

"Well, I have a very exciting story today," Kurt said happily, going as far as to motion everyone to lean in towards him. "Alright. My mother was a fortune teller, in the circus. So when she found me along the roadside as a little blue baby, she took me there to live. I became the acrobat there," the blue mutant paused to take a deep breath before continuing once more.

"A man named Arnos bought our circus and was going to put me in the… freak show, I believe. Well, I almost went but someone, a child helped me out. He was very kind," again a pause followed Kurt's statement, but it was out of memory as he recalled how the mutant sensed him out and helped him escape Arnos' grasps. It could have been a happy ending from there, but it didn't exactly play out that way.

"So, I found myself in… Winzeldorf- that's in Germany. There, I discovered my brother, Stefan. But he wasn't himself. He had killed… children. A-and I couldn't let him continue living so I did what I needed to do." Kurt looked down at his lap, fiddling his fingers for a moment before turning back to the mutants around him. "I was going to tell mother what happened when I was captured. It was in Berlin. Then after a while Mystique came to my rescue. I cannot thank her enough."

Allie nodded towards the young mutant, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We all should thank Raven for the good she's done," everyone at the table agreed before turning towards the girl who'd spoken.

"I think they're staring at you cause it's your turn," Peter said to Allie before zooming out from the table, only to return a mere second later with another cola. It was as if they were drinking at a bar, telling long monologues of their pasts to each other. Half of it was true at least.

"Okay. Obviously I was born in D.C. as well. The Pentagon happened and the night I came home with Peter I found out that my father was missing in action. They'd found some evidence that he was taken prisoner but it wasn't substantial enough. I had a run in down at the Washington demonstration, where I helped Mystique to not kill Trask. After that… I was kidnapped by William Stryker," Allie paused, taking a deep breath before grabbing Peter's hand beneath the table.

"Lot's happened there. Not only did they take me… but they also took… my mother-" She took a sip of Peter's cola to stall. But as soon as the glass fell from her lips, she was plunged back into the harsh reality of her story. "She didn't make it out. So… I was tested on. They enhanced my abilities to make them physical. That's why my fingertips are stained," the blonde sighed, holding her wiggling fingers out to the others around the table. They all watched with curiosity, having not realized that the blackness was a side effect of her worsened mutation.

"And then thanks to Logan and you guys, I was able to get out," Allie turned to smile all the way from Kurt's happy blue figure through Jean and Scott to finally, Peter, who also gave the blonde a soft smirk.

"How long were you there," Scott asked, leaning back into his chair, slowly crossing his arms.

"Ten mother fucking years," Peter said for Allie, who was a bit rough when it came to adding up the time she was gone. But luckily for her, the gray haired mutant beside her counted every single one from the time of her capture to the day he finally found her once more.

Everyone around the table was silent, trying to comprehend living in such conditions for ten years. If Allie wouldn't have gotten the temporary anti aging spell, a good chunk of her life would have been wasted away. It all would have gone towards a terrifying revelation full of abuse and scientific torture, for the better of mankind. Not mutants.

Jean couldn't help but take a dip into Allie's mind, feeling herself sink into the ever growing dread which was labeled her past. The telepath could feel the blonde's every emotion that had occurred throughout the decade. All the regret for not telling Peter how she really felt about him. The shame for not being able to save her mother, yet more shame for having to selfishly kill so many innocent lives. The sadness and despair from being constantly hurt and abused by countless rounds of angry men, who only saw her as a number in the mutant population count. There was no happy thought about it. And it all hit Jean like a missile, exploding to a million pieces in her own mind.

She quickly exited the strange and disturbing mind of Allie before she could sensed the violating feeling from Jean. That was the last thing the young girl needed. Knowing that one of her closest allies seemed to enjoy snooping around. It's not like Jean could really help it. She didn't know if she was just that strong that everyone's minds were like an open book, or, if everyone was just weak and allowed all of their closest fears and secrets to be left out in the open. Either way, the telepathy just occurred naturally.

"I'm sorry," Jean told the girl, genuinely feeling bad about what she was put through all those years, being unable to earn a sympathetic soul just to aid her through the stay. There was nothing there for her, just the memories she held and the will to live.

Allie shook her head.

"Thank you, but, we've all been through some pretty bad shit. I'm just glad that we all made it out alive. Even if we had our bones bent outwards at ninety degree angles through said shit," Allie joked, elbowing Peter's arm lightly. He just rolled his eyes and swung his previously casted leg back and forth beneath the table as everyone else chuckled painfully. Apocalypse really did fuck his leg up.

"Alright, alright. It's almost five, I think we should get outta here. Need to get back to the professor," Peter told the rest of the mutants, standing up from his chair. Everyone else did so, except for Scott who was yet planted firmly in his seat.

"Wait a minute. I didn't get to tell my kick ass story," the mutant whined, looking up at the other students.

"I already heard the different variations of it as you planned oh so carefully what you'd say," Jean told Scott with a smug grin on her mouth.

"Oh you slippery son of a bitch," Scott said under his breath, loudly enough for everyone to hear. He quickly shot up from his seat and made to grab Jean by the arm, but the redhead was too quick. The pair took off running towards the exit of the mall, leaving Peter, Allie and Kurt to stare amusedly at their retreating figures. The blue mutant came up beside the pair.

"They will make a nice couple," Kurt stated proudly. Allie nodded and laughed as Scott slipped and fell halfway down the long hallway. Jean only turned around for a second before disappearing around the corner, running towards the east wing of the mall. That's not where they parked so who knows how long they were going to be running around.

Peter sighed, beginning to walk to the exit.

"Kids these days."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

A week later...

Allie sighed, lying back in Peter's bed, waiting for him to return to his room from a full day of fighting whatever the hell was down in the basement. Professor X had everyone with the right capabilities for the X-Men practicing day in and day out for hours on end, preparing them for the worst the world could throw at them. It was one of the most tiring things for the mutants to go through, but yet it was worth every second of aching muscles and rough teamwork. They needed to be read for anything.

Allie would love to be training with the mutants downstairs, but she was told by Hank that she didn't have the 'right mutation' for whatever they were fighting. After some thinking, the blonde could only assume they were battling things that didn't have minds with probable fears in them. So perhaps robots?

Either way, Allie hoped that soon something could be done to allow her to enter the realm of the X-Men team. She wanted to give her aid as much as the rest, as there was much of her energy that she wanted to spend protecting those that she loved. But she obviously wasn't needed.

"Honey I'm home," Peter called from around the corner in a pain filled voice, the sound of the door shutting softly from behind him. Allie sat up slowly, fluffing the pillows on the other side of the bed before pulling the covers down for Peter to slide easily in. He came around the wall, still dressed in his X-Men uniform. How in the hell does one get comfy in bed while in a pretty tight full length suit?

"Don't you want to get out of that thing?" Allie asked him, eyebrows scrunched as she prodded the shoulder pad when he sat down onto the bed with a tired huff.

"Yeah if you do it for me," Peter said, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his gloved hands. There wasn't a hint of mischievousness in his voice; he was that legitimately tired that he couldn't undress himself.

Allie pouted, turning Peter onto his back. "You poor thing."

There were three hooks extended over an awfully long zipper on the back of the suit, used for utmost security to keep any mishaps at bay. The blonde began roughly unhooking each of the three ties before finally exposing the zipper, to which she undid as well. Once that was over with, Peter could finally slip out of the top half of the suit. He sighed with content, feeling the cool air of the bedroom hit his torso. The uniform was hot as hell, so it felt amazing for his chest and arms to not be enclosed in what felt like tight walls all around him.

"There you go," the blonde said, turning back to lay on her side of the bed.

"Thanks mom," he other mutant chuckled breathily. Allie just threw Peter a tired smile as she snuggled under the covers, observing the other as he attempted to take off the boots on his feet. After a few moments of extreme struggle, Peter was able to release the boots from his ankles successfully, finally allowing him to undress entirely. Luckily for Allie, he was wearing a dark long sleeve shirt and leggings combo. She didn't want to look like a deer in headlights if she happened to see Peter in less than pants and a shirt.

"They make you wear all that beneath the suit?" Allie questioned the boy, noticing a single bead of sweat roll down the slope of his nose. Peter nodded with a roll of his dark eyes.

"Just in case we get stuck somewhere cold. This," he peeled the shirt off his torso, holding it up to Allie's view. "This helps to keep in body heat." The pair grimaced, smelling the sweet odor of B.O. waft around the room. It already seemed like they were hanging out in a century old locker room, much to Allie's disdain. Not that either of them knew what that smelled like, but they could only guess.

"Okayyy then," Allie said, closing her eyes with the blankets shielding her nose from the stench.

Peter only stood up shakily, taking off the black leggings as well, throwing them on the ominous pile of dirty laundry in the corner of the room. He fell back onto the bed, clad in only his underwear.

Allie couldn't even pay attention to the fact that her boyfriend was practically naked beside her, as the smell emitting off of him was almost drowning her, even with the thick comforter smothering her. She gagged silently before sitting up, pulling the pillow out from beneath her and up to her nose. The blonde looked pointedly at Peter, eyes narrowed.

"You need to take a shower," the mutants voice was muffled beneath the even thicker pillow, but Peter got the message. He frowned however, groaning as he looked up to Allie.

"But I don't wanna. I'm too tired..." Peter whined, his eyes already closing. Allie shook her head, dropping the pillow to lightly pat the mutant on either side of his face. He only pried one eye open, his eyelid twitching with annoyance. All he wanted to do was sleep and Allie could go back to her room if she just couldn't bear the oh God awful smell he was sending off in waves.

"C'mon, you're supposed to have like, unlimited stamina. And can't you smell that?" Again, Allie prodded Peter's cheeks, earning another annoyed gesture from him. He grabbed both of her small hands in his larger one gently but firmly and set them down on the mattress. He then nuzzled into his pillow further, attempting to finally end the feud over his revolting stench.

"I do have unlimited stamina. Until it's not. I planned on getting more than my usual two hours of sleep tonight, 'cause I've been going hard this past week. And no, I think my nostrils fell asleep too," Peter explained, curling into the covers in another attempt to just go to bed. Allie wasn't having it though, and jumped out of the covers, grabbing Peter's forearm.

That grabbed the mutants attention, and he looked to his left, watching the blonde attempt to pull him out of the bed. Peter shook his head, the annoyance gone and replaced with a smirk. He stared at Allie's stubborn form, not noticing as he slowly moved closer and closer to the edge of his bed until he'd just about fallen off of it.

Allie's lips had been moving, her expression a mix of amusement and determination. But it quickly turned into warning as Peter's body was teetering off the ledge, his entire left side of his body slipping off the plush mattress and straight onto the ground.

How the hell did he mess that one up?

Peter groaned, feeling what seemed to be numbing pain of his hard work in the basement come flaring back up from his spine and across the span of his back. Allie quickly kneeled beside his clearly hurting form and began a spur of apologies to the boy.

"I'm sorry Peter, I thought you would've caught yourself before you'd slipped. I can just go back to my room so you can sleep without me bothering-"

Allie's apologetic word vomit was put on pause when a pair of lips met hers. She instantly kissed Peter back, pulling on the boy's arm in a gesture to get him back onto the bed. The mutant accepted it and slowly crawled onto the mattress once more, never breaking the movement of their lips together. Despite the prior argument over his unbearable smell, they fell onto each other's bodies almost feverishly.

The mutants were both on the bed then, Peter on his back that was yet still sore, though he was choosing to ignore it with all his might to continue with Allie. The girl was perched beneath his right arm with her hand balled onto the collar of his shirt. She pulled on the fabric, hearing a few pops of it stretching with her desire. She just wanted Peter to be closer to her.

Of course, he complied, leaning in further to deepen their kisses. A sound escaped Allie at the act. And though that was just an invitation to further their situation, Peter pulled away. His breath was shallow and his dark eyes aroused, but yet he held himself away from Allie's small, heated body. They were moving too fast.

Peter had felt it nagging in that back of his mind. He loved Allie, that was something that he'd easily see himself say for the rest of his life like a broken record. But he didn't want ten years of that feeling being repelled to just come crashing down onto the two of them, forcing the wanted relationship into something messy and unbearable. That was the last thing he wanted to occur.

So that meant that no one's clothing was going to slip off that night.

"What's wrong?" Allie breathed, cringing at how disappointed she sounded out loud. She couldn't help it though, as the new feeling was rather prominent in that moment. The girl hadn't felt anything like she did when she was with Peter before, and to her dismay she felt saddened when she couldn't share her entire life and being with him. Even if it was just a this desire that swooped in with the romantic atmosphere.

"Not yet..." From beside her, Peter sighed. "I-I don't want us to be taking this," he sorely waved his hand between their chests, "too fast." What Peter considered to be a pretty sincere and honest statement, didn't hold the same context for Allie. Instead of competing with a serious expression, the girl burst into laughter.

Peter stared confusedly at her but couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips. A few laughter filled seconds passed by before Allie could gain enough composure to speak fluently.

"It's just… oh my gosh," she wiped her eyes with black stained finger tips. "Coming from a guy that runs as fast as you, it's funny to see you stop in the name of speed." By that point Peter was laughing along with Allie, unable to hold stoicism any longer. Even amidst a considerably serious moment, the mutant could just poke fun at anything.

Suddenly Peter appreciated Allie so much more than he ever imagined he could. She was so beautiful...

"I guess that's a very valid argument," Peter chuckled softly, collapsing into the pillows calling his name from below. His throbbing post- exercise body couldn't handle anymore action for that night anyhow.

Allie seemed to sense his pain and tiredness and knelt down beside him, planting a tiny kiss on the tip of his nose. Peter just smiled and closed his eyes. He wasn't planning on embracing Allie, remembering her insistent complaints of his odor, but she went in for it anyways.

The girl flung herself onto his body, her arms instantly snaking around Peter's neck and her head burying into the boy's chest. "Thank you," she whispered onto his exposed skin. He felt the grateful breath tickle his flesh, sending chills down his spine.

It was the last heart dropping feeling he felt before falling asleep with Allie safe in his arms.

The next morning...

"Wise men say… only fools rush in," Peter awoke to soft singing coming from down his bedside. He opened his eyes slowly, wiping away the tiredness painfully. The mutant usually felt well quickly but the fact that the team had been grinding away at drills for ten hours a day, every day, kept his body aching constantly, even under all comfort and fast healing. It troubled Peter who usually went through life pain free, but the practice in combat was needed. No Apocalypse Jr. was going to fuck his day up once again.

"But I, can't help, falling in love with you..." Again came the Elvis lyrics from below Peter. He regretfully pushed himself onto his elbows to find Allie on her stomach faced toward the dotted wall, nose deep in a magazine. She sang quietly, almost a whisper but beautiful all the same. Peter probably could've laid there all day and relaxed while listening to the hums, but his growling stomach prohibited that.

It weeped so loudly that Allie turned around and laughed, jumping to find that Peter wasn't asleep like she figured he was. "Are you hungry?" She asked him quickly, her cheeks blooming roses as she realized he'd probably heard her singing to herself. The boy nodded despite her concern.

"Yeah, I've probably lost all the nutrition I had in the week of kicking robot ass," Peter chuckled, throwing the covers off his torso to entice himself out of bed. It only made him want to snuggle back underneath the warmth.

"Alright- oh god. Go get a show- oh that's bad," Allie immediately felt her entire being cave in with the wafting stench of Peter's extreme work out. With the movement of the covers everything from the night before and then some was thrown like a dodgeball straight into the girl's face. She felt like she'd gotten punched by that century old locker room from the night before.

Peter burst into laughter as Allie whipped her magazine off the bed with her body as she tried desperately to run away from the foul odor invading her nostrils. She continuously groaned with her back towards Peter, not hearing his approaching steps. And soon she was encased in an embrace that had even worst effects on Allie's senses.

"Noooooo!" Allie yelled writhing in the boy's arms helplessly. His hold was too strong and he wasn't willing to let go anytime soon.

"You've gotta get used to this Simmons. I'm probably going to smell like shit every night and won't have the energy to do anything about it," Peter laughed loudly in Allie's ear, his arms loosening at the end of his statement. The girl took it to her advantage and immediately leapt away from her boyfriend, quickly grabbing the magazine on the floor. Allie turned and tried to throw the subscription at him, but it slipped early and ended up flying across the room. Peter caught it anyhow with his super speed.

"Congressional Page Sex Scandals. They're still talking about that?" Peter asked the girl, flipping through the ten page segment within a mere second. Allie nodded with a sigh.

"Love is love I guess," she looked down at the ground, then peered back up to Peter. He zoomed over to her seated form on the floor, handing the mutant the magazine.

"Thanks," Allie smiled and flipped to the page she'd last been on: horoscopes. "It says that I'm going to find the love of my life this season."

Peter took the sleek pages from Allie once again to squint at it. He made a face at the colorful Zodiac signs that plagued the page with all the wishes and destinies for their according populations.

"Mine says I'm going to make new friends, because being this far away from the sun leaves room for my kick ass social skills," the magazine was back into Allie's hands as she looked towards the doorway. Charles was in the midst of wheeling himself into the room with a smile at the two mutants. All he could see was the top of Peter's gray tresses and Allie's wide eyes from over the mattress.

"And what is it that you two are doing talking of horoscopes… on the floor?" The professor asked them inquisitively. He could just seek the answers he wanted by stepping into their minds, but Xavier was curious to see what the couples statements were.

Allie quickly hopped up onto the bed while Peter sped around the room, appearing no later than a second fully clothed. He'd forgotten that he fell asleep with just underwear on and figured that was the last thing Charles would like to see in most cases.

"Well," Allie began with a smile as she held the magazine into Charles' view. "We are checking in on how the fall is going to go this year."

"I'm going to make new friends apparently!" Peter quipped excitedly, thinking about Kurt and Scott. They were definitely gonna become his best manly friends within a bit of time, he predicted comically in his mind. That, he knew for sure.

"Oh really?" Charles said chipperly, smiling at the way the couple was getting along, happy that they weren't affected in any way by the almost end of the world. "That's great. The only reason I've come to bother you this morning is because I believe Allie has missed out on some education, due to… rather malicious human beings on this earth." Peter looked at Allie, zipping to sit criss-crossed beside her on his bed. There was a certain sadness to his gaze as he looked onto the girl, who fidgeted in her place.

Allie turned to look back at the boy, seeing as she shared his disdain within the topic of matter, but whipped back around to throw a soft smile at Charles. His face too showed how the conversation physically pained him, just by hearing echoes of what went on in the facility from her mind.

The blonde absent mindedly fluffed a pillow thrown beside her from the couples brawl. "That sounds wonderful Charles, thank you." The older man nodded and bid the pair farewell and began wheeling out of the room. As he waved the door open, a voice echoed in Allie's mind.

'I'll give you a schedule of various classes at a later date Allie. You may join anytime you feel fit.' The accented voice of the Professor soothed the girl, and she mentally shot him another 'thanks' and felt the heavy presence leave her. But another feeling invaded her senses; fear. Not hers, but Peter's. She could feel the way his heart dipped within his stomach at the way Allie's face dropped and the memories with Stryker flooded her mental gates.

She didn't speak, only felt the way Peter's emotions danced through her mind. "Y'know," he began, already hating the silence around them. "You never did tell me what went on in there." It sounded as though he regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth, but his angered curiosity of what had been done to the girl overpowered him.

Slowly, the blonde turned to look back at Peter, the slight glistening of tears in her eyes evident. Allie just sighed, bringing her index fingers up to her lids to wash the salty emotion back into her eyes.

"Torture," was all she said. Peter nodded, putting a hand on the girl's knee and instantly feeling her trembling from beneath his palm. It must have been one hellacious time within the hands of the devil. And the boy thought that the humiliation he felt from being cast out from a track team was hell, he had no idea that wherever Allie was, she had been receiving some sort of brutal treatment in a faraway facility.

It made Peter feel like literal shit. Enough to force him into giving Allie a loving hug. She began crying.

"They hurt me," her voice wavered while she looked down at her blackened fingertips gripping onto Peter's shirt. "I couldn't stop thinking of you and how much I missed my mom..." An onslaught of sobs wracked the girl's body, leaving her open and vulnerable to the memories of terror that began invading her mind like water from a broken dam. Peter only sat silently, clutching onto Allie.

"I thought I was never going to see you again," she confessed, voice just a cracked whisper, barely heard by Peter. He closed his eyes, regretting ever bringing it up.

Allie could feel his disdain. "I- I'm sorry Al-"

"No," she said quickly, cutting the boy off. "It's not anyone's fault but Stryker's," the blonde spat, tearing herself away from Peter's embrace. "He did this to us, to hundreds, maybe thousands of other mutants." They both looked at each other heatedly, Allie having a sudden burst of anger coming over her.

"We need to talk to Charles about getting rid of him," she then said, spontaneously coming up with ideas. But Peter shook his head, grabbing Allie's hand. He looked at her with understanding, yet clear caution.

"Slow down," he said chuckling at how hypocritical he sounded. "We will talk to the Professor then, but for now let's worry about the present. We only just got back our homes and killed Apocalypse." Allie sighed, physically deflating within her spot on the bed. She nodded with a mumble.

"You're right." Though it didn't stop the anger from the back of her mind.

Later...

Training had been evergoing with Peter, since his leg was new and improved. So the couple was spending a lot time away from each other, leaving Allie to her own devices as she toured the house for the second time around, admiring the new decorations they'd received everyday. Eventually, she found the sound of her stomach growling echoing down the teaching halls.

She needed to find a kitchen, and fast.

Soon enough, the blonde was able to track down a dining room which obviously led into a kitchen. There she discovered a loaf of bread and decided to feed herself some toast.

Whilst she was in the middle of fishing out the slices from the plastic wrap, she heard someone join her within the room. Turning around, Allie found that Kurt was seating himself at the island in the middle of the space. The blonde was delighted to see the blue mutant and shot him a smile.

"Good morning Kurt," she beamed. The blue mutant mirrored her expression and smiled on back, big blue hand moving back and forth in the air.

"Hello Allie. What are you making?" Allie turned around and held up a piece of bread for the boy's view.

"Toast," she said simply, plopping the last piece into the toaster before sliding the hammer down. Allie then turned around and leaned on the counter, looking expectantly at the boy. "What are you doing here, shouldn't you be training with the rest of the X-Men?" She inquired curiously, keeping her tone light so as not to scare the boy off. She could tell just by looking at him that Kurt was not in his own environment by any means. His fear for the new world was extremely relevant.

The blue mutant sighed and propped his head onto his fist. "I asked Charles if I could have time to learn American culture. He complied but I've not the slightest clue how to do so," Kurt gestured around the room, looking at all the advanced American technology that he hadn't seen back in his European home. He was sure that the same products probably resided somewhere around there, but he just hadn't had the pleasure to see it.

Allie smirked, jumping when her toast popped from behind her. "Gah," she hummed, turning to try and fiddle the toast out, finding that it was stuck within the toaster. "The hell..." She muttered, attempting to get the bread released, but only tearing the hot crust away. Allie was about to give up when Kurt came by her side with a puff of dark smoke, his clawed hand reaching for the toaster.

With his nails, the mutant plucked the pieces out effortlessly and dropped them onto the plate set out by the girl. Allie smiled impressively and began opening cabinets in a desperate search for Strawberry Jam. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver."

"You are very welcome," the mutant quipped before taking a seat once more. He watched as Allie scavenged each of the shelves before finally finding a homemade jar of jam. That was one thing that Kurt was acquainted with.

"Kurt, I can take you out to see some things if you want," Allie said, remembering their previous conversation. The blue mutant smiled, thankful for the help.

"That would be wonderful!" He said happily.

After breakfast...

It turned out the that trip to learn about modern culture wasn't just for Kurt, but for Allie as well. As they drove through modern New York city, and it was difficult for the girl to explain many concepts concerning fashion, art and music, as it was a task for herself to even understand. Everything was so colorful and edgy; the music was harder and the art was a combination of all the changes. But it wasn't exactly a bad change, just a strange one.

"That's a movie theatre," Allie commented, looking at the bold letters of the cinema. Return of the Jedi, it read.

Kurt nodded excitedly and sipped his Cola, looking around in wonder. "I've been to one with Scott and Jean," he informed her.

"Hey so whatever happened to that Angel guy and the lady with the sword?" The girl asked suddenly, remembering that Kurt would have probably seen the pair last since he'd been the one to teleport everyone but Allie to the airship at the time of their supposed departure. The only interaction that the blonde ever had with the four horsemen was with the Mohawk girl, so she was a little curious to hear about the other two.

Kurt however seemed to become uncomfortable with the revelation. He squirmed in his seat slightly. "Angel? I've not a clue. I do hope he is okay though." Allie looked over at the mutant with a confused expression planted firmly on her face. Why the sudden change in demeanor?

"Are you alright?" The blonde questioned in concern, finding that Kurt's behavior was a little bit unusual. Especially when just being asked about a person, one of their prior enemies at that.

The blue mutant nodded vigorously, his fringe bouncing with the movement. "Yes, yes, yes... yes. It's just that... oh- nevermind," Kurt replied quickly, trying to avert their conversation off of the subject. But by that point Allie's curiosity was already perked and she wanted to know just what the young man was hiding from her.

She promptly pulled into a bookstore parking lot and shot the Camaro into a space before looking to Kurt with expectant eyes. He slowly moved closer to the passenger door, gripping his cola tight within three, stiff fingers. There was definitely something that he was hiding from the girl, and she was keen on figuring out just what secrets lied inside the mutants mind.

Though he wasn't going to confess anything if she acted like a deranged animal, so Allie unbuckled her seatbelt calmly and looked at the young man in the same manner. "Don't be afraid to tell me anything," she told him gently. "I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to." Something about the statement made the blue mutant relax physically, some soft vulnerability appearing within his bright eyes. It looked like her words soothed him enough that he felt safe confessing to the blonde what he'd been hiding.

"I don't know if I've informed anyone of this," he began, head bowed slightly as he relayed the feelings from within. "But the day of that battle was not the first time I've dealt with Angel." Allie's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, listening to the story without knowing an ounce of where it was heading. But she nodded despite the confusion and beckoned for Kurt to continue his explanation.

He sighed, looking timidly up to the blonde's dark eyes. "We were both chosen to fight each other, in an underground… mutant fightclub or something of those sorts." Allie frowned at the prospect. Why were some people in the world so disgusting? "I hurt him- his wings. They weren't always mechanical you see. He- he..." The blue mutant paused for a moment, his navy skin deepening in color by his cheeks. "He truly did look like an angel."

With a chuckle the mutant went on, wringing his hands out. "I felt so sorry to have… crippled him. But I needed to get out of that horrible place." Kurt frowned at remembering the episode, the hatred in the other mutants eyes as he looked upon his own broken wings. "I don't know what I would do if something so special to me was taken away like that..."

There was a melancholic guilt within the mutant's eyes, and it made Allie look upon the young man with a newfound appreciation. Even for the baddest of people, who intended to harm an unexplainable amount of human beings, Kurt still felt ashamed for the wrong he had done unto them. There was something special about that, that you couldn't find in many people those days.

Allie herself would say it was hard to release those kinds of feelings, knowing that after her experience it would be almost impossible to give any sort of sympathy to people who only wished to take the lives of others in ways that cannot be justified. So it was definitely something to admire within Kurt. It was something pure and full of light.

"It seems that I've developed feelings for this corrupted mutant." Woah. What? Allie blinked, once, twice. She looked at Kurt and cocked her head.

"Really?" She asked him in a whisper. The mutant looked down into his lap and sighed, feeling judged already by the girl's gaze. Allie seemed to sense these feelings of betrayal, and changed her tone, knowing that she didn't mean for her reaction to come out as such.

"I mean, Kurt, if that's what you really want I think you should totally chase it." At that the mutant peered up through his bangs with a hopeful look in his eyes. He began smiling from ear to ear, a newfound happiness blossoming inside of him.

"You really think so?" He said, looking at Allie with hope written all over his beaming features. The girl nodded, shrugging as she smiled back at the boy.

"Of course, it's what you want. I believe that you can do anything Kurt, I really do. I mean-" Allie wasn't able to finish her supporting statement, as the blue mutant latched himself onto her in a dreadfully tight grip.

"Thank you soooooo muccccchh!" Kurt expressed loudly, wrapping his arms even tighter around the girl before pulling away. Allie just nodded at the boy, but his face suddenly fell, the happiness from just a moment before fading almost as quickly as it came. The blonde wore her confused expression once again, raising a hand out to softly touch the young man's shoulder.

She frowned. "What's wrong?" The mutant shook his head in exasperation.

"I am unsure of whether he lives yet or not," he confessed. "The last time in which I saw him was at the aircraft. And- and it crashed." The amount of distress just saying the sentence evident in Kurt's voice made the blonde's heart strings pull. It was her turn to wrap her arms around the Nightcrawler, feeling his arms do the same after a few moments.

There was still hope. Allie could sense it. "I think that there is a chance he's lived. My guts telling me so." Kurt nodded into the girl's hair, eyes glossy with how appreciative he became over Allie's acceptance of his feelings. He figured that she wouldn't be so forgiving and rat him out to all of the other mutants within the school. But having her become so unexpectedly supportive really made a mark on him. It was good to know that there were some people out there who were simply kind and understanding.

It truly did change his mind about some people in the world.

Later...

Allie couldn't control her laughter.

"I can't believe we actually did that Kurt!" The blue mutant followed suit in the girl's actions, cackling loudly as he walked back to the Camaro, the stars shining bright above the pair. They'd definitely used their mutations in good use, taking time to mess around with the public in innocent but hilarious ways.

"Their poor faces!" Kurt cried, crawling into the passenger seat. Allie ignited the engine of the car, pausing for a moment to let out another chuckle before slapping her hands onto the steering wheel. She looked over at the young man, sighing through a wide smile.

"Did you learn a lot today?" She asked him, glancing outside to realize the night was pitch and they'd been out most of the day. Turning back, Kurt nodded excitedly as he recalled all of the amazing sights he'd seen earlier that day, from tall buildings in the city to luxury shops and even a car wash. Him and Allie both had lots of fun flingy soapy water at each other from across the red Camaro.

Kurt beamed at the blonde and drummed his fingers on his knees. "I learned quite a bit. I am highly educated now!" He added with a single blue digit in the air, a look of high authority on his face. Allie however turned her expression inquisitive and looked at the boy.

"Who was the first president?" She quizzed him expertly. It was something any American could answer.

The blue mutant paused, face contorted in extreme concentration as he wracked his brain for any important names he'd heard or seen along the way of their day trip. But no matter how much of a search he conducted, Kurt just couldn't find a historically accurate name, so instead he decided to just burst out the first thing that came to mind.

"EMPEROR PALPATINE!" He exclaimed practically at the top of his lungs, resulting in the almost death by suffocation of Allie. She fainted momentarily against her steering wheel before being thrown in a fit of laughter, looking to Kurt with tears streaming down her face. The blonde tried to convey words to express her feeling of hilarious disappointment, but it was only replaced with more laughter.

Eventually, the pair was able to calm themselves down and finally begin to leave the parking lot. "That is not the right answer, at all," Allie chuckled harmlessly, making Kurt smile. He hummed in acknowledgment.

"I agree, though I have not learned who was the first president," he replied honestly.

"Mr. George Washington," Allie gave away the answer, pulling out onto the highway to take them back home to the mansion.

"Agh, I see," Kurt sighed, leaning his head against the window, feeling tired suddenly. Soon, the sounds of the Stray Cats and the hum of the Camaro lulled the blue mutant to sleep, leaving Allie to strain her eyes against the straight road without anything to distract her from falling asleep herself.

Not soon enough, the pair arrived home, Allie being the definition of a zombie in that moment. Her eyes were dry and left with a burning sensation whenever she blinked, causing her to be unable to close her lids. Her entire body was stiff and her feet sore from the cramping in her toes due to all the walking and driving they had done throughout the day.

Hopefully after she rested for a little bit her advancements would heal all the aches and pains.

With that thought in mind, Allie quickly prodded Kurt awake, hoping to get inside the mansion as soon as possible so she could go to sleep.

The blue mutant groaned. "One more hour..." he sighed, cuddling deeper into the pleather interior beside him. Allie attempted to roll her eyes with a smile but there came no movement of either features, due to the stolid expression glued to her face for the better half of two hours. So instead of working on trying to get her face to respond once more, Allie slapped Kurt's jacketed shoulder a few times and called his name.

"Kurt wake up, we're home," she informed him, seeing as the mutant was beginning to come to. Surprisingly Allie was able to smile in relief, and slowly opened her car door. Though it was thrown back onto her as she stepped out by a gush of wind, causing a ripple of pain to dance down her spine.

"My god, I had no idea where you- oh I'm sorry 'bout that, lemme help you. WherewereyouanywaysIhadnoideawhoyouwerewithbecauseKurtwasgonetoandtheweirdbirdguycamebacktoday..." Allie barely had time to register what had hit her, but when she heard the tell tale sling of words being vomited out into her ear, she knew it was the one and only Peter Maximoff.

"Hejustfell-" Peter continued before being interrupted.

"Shhh," Allie shushed the boy by clumsily trying to place her finger on the boys lips, only to poke Peter in the chin harshly. The gray haired mutant paused with furrowed brows, pulling the car door off of Allie's body slowly.

"You're very tired," he said in an obvious tone. The girl nodded, feeling herself suddenly be lifted from the ground as Peter pulled the girl to his chest bridal style, knocking the door closed with the kick of his leg. Walking to the front of the car, the gray haired mutant peered over at Kurt. The teleporter crawled out from his seat and shut his door, giving Peter an expectant look as he stood straight.

"I'll race ya'," the boy said as he looked challengingly into the blue mutants yellow eyes. Kurt smiled, feeling his victory already as he burst into a puff of inky smoke and Peter sprinted into a zip towards the mansion.

But by the time Peter and Allie made it to the lobby, Kurt was already standing inside smugly with his arms crossed, surrounded in a quickly disappearing smoke. Clearly he won, and the gray haired mutant frowned as the blonde rubbed her sore neck tiredly. He hadn't warned her about the running.

"Dang it," Peter swore, putting his fist out from beneath Allie's knees for the blue mutant to bump knuckles with. "Nice go Nightcrawler." The young man however stared down at the gesture in confusion and just grabbed Peter's hand, giving it a soft squeeze in hopes that he'd done something right. It was another thing that Allie hadn't fully taught him about American culture.

Peter chuckled approvingly at the way Kurt handled the action, and readjusted Allie within his arms. "Goodnight," the gray haired boy bid farewell. Before walking away, he turned back to the blue mutant. "Oh, you've got a new roommate." Kurt cocked his head, looking at the boy quizzically but shook his head, remembering that sleeping arrangements were being sorted out that week by the professor. So it made sense that the boy would be receiving some guests.

"Goodnight Peter," Kurt sighed and imagined his room within his mind, allowing the scene to turn into a reality as he was enveloped in his signature deep blue cloud.

Upon teleporting to his room, Kurt found that another bed had been placed within the room and there was already a body snug underneath the sheets. Kurt smiled, elated to be creating more friends, and walked over to the bed to see who would be the boy's roommate.

First a mop of curly blonde hair emerged from the gray comforter, then a pair of closed eyes, and then finally a very nicely chiseled face that looked like an angel itself-

Wait.

Kurt looked closely within the dark, and gasped silently when he found that indeed, Angel was sleeping in the same room as him. He smiled suddenly, clapping his hands together softly yet sporadically, allowing a string of soft giggles to flow from his mouth. Hopping back to his bed, Kurt lied down, ecstatic with the sudden survival of the blonde and the forced situation of their living quarters.

He couldn't wait to tell Allie of the news.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

The first thing that Allie did when she awoke was come to the realization that there were three people in the room with her; talking very loudly at that. Upon forcing her eyes open and adjusting them to the invading sunlight, the blonde could see the Professor, Peter and Kurt all seated in various spots around the room. The sight surprised her greatly.

The girl sat up quickly, startled by their presences so suddenly in the morning. Peter, being the closest to Allie from his seat on her bedside, put his hand on her knee. "Good afternoon," he said in a sing song voice while Kurt smiled excitedly at the girl, his bright yellow eyes seeming all too excited. Charles appeared indifferent to the addition of the newly conscious mind and just smirked at the young mutants. The Professor then moved his wheelchair, positioning himself closer amongst the mutants in order for Allie to see him clearly.

"We have been discussing the topic of our new student," the older man stated matter of factly, giving a pointed look toward Kurt as he did so. The blue mutant snuggled into his seat secretively and smiled strangely at Allie. Confused, the girl looked to Peter and Charles.

"Who is it?" She asked.

"I told you last night, it's that angel wing guy," Peter reminded the girl of his prior tellings, the ones that were almost all too quick for the girl to comprehend. Now that the boy had brought it up, Allie was able to remember him speaking about a new student being the foe from before. However, was there any human capable of understanding just what Peter Maximoff says when his mouth is running as fast as his legs?

Rolling her eyes with a smile, Allie looked to the gray haired mutant. "I can't understand you when you get all excited and talk so fast." She shrugged, the boy mirroring her actions as he began massaging her foot.

Allie suddenly realized what this meant to Kurt, and she immediately met her eyes with his and smiled, finding that his cheeks were turning a darker shade of blue at the prospect. She couldn't believe that after his confession, Angel mysteriously showed up out of nowhere conveniently enough for the blue mutant. It seemed like their wishes were answered and the man in question was delivered to their doorstep by the hands of the universe.

"Yesterday whilst you and Kurt went on a shopping spree," Charles smirked at the conquest. "The young mutant came to our front lawn and passed out, intoxicated of course. We transported him inside and gave him his own quarters with Kurt, someone familiar." The Professor went on to explain that the blonde had slept the rest of the evening and was still in the same state that morning, likely from how much he'd drank the day before.

Coming to the point of the conversation the Professor continued. "I'd wish for you three to acquaint him to our school and possibly show the young mutant around so he can become familiar with his surroundings." Allie looked to Peter and Kurt with a satisfied expression upon her face, delighted to help the boy out. The task was easy enough and seemed like a kind thing to do for the young man, even though his previous actions brought a bitter taste onto Allie's tongue. But she figured it would be decent of them to give Angel another chance. And it was obvious that he wouldn't be in the best of moods when he would wake up, probably suffering from a hangover, so it was good they were going to be present. That way they could explain where he was if he was unknowing of his drunken actions.

"Sounds like a plan Charles," Allie yawned, stretching her upper body as Peter continuously rubbed her aching feet. The girl could feel Kurt's nervousness from where she was sitting, finding that he feared what the new mutant's reaction would be once he saw him, hoping that he wouldn't be pissed for the fact that it was the blue mutant who took away his flight. Allie herself was a little anxious to see how exactly the man would act, but she couldn't quite imagine him throwing a violent fit.

He did in fact walk himself drunkenly to the mansion, so it was his own fault if he didn't want to be a guest.

"Wonderful," Charles said, elated with the matter being solved. He maneuvered around the various drops of laundry around Peter's room and rolled towards the bedroom door, leaning forward with a strain to open the door. Before exiting he added, "breakfast will be served soon, be sure to invite him downstairs."

Peter sighed, hearing his bedroom door close as the Professor made his leave. "Welp, I'm gonna take a shower, be right back." And with a gush of wind the gray haired mutant was gone and the bathroom door was shut quickly, leaving Allie and Kurt to discuss the good news.

Biting her smiling lip, Allie patted the space that Peter had previously occupied and Kurt teleported to the area, already trying to refrain himself from screaming out of excitement. Instead he just resorted to looking at Allie with shaking fists and vigorously moving feet, entire body wracking with joy. He didn't know how else to express his ecstatic thoughts other than the violent feat, coming up with a loss of words. So instead he just squealed quietly and watched as the blonde struggled to hide the way she laughed at the sight.

"Oh my gosh, this is amazing," the girl said as she fell back onto the bed, head smacking the unfluffed pillow loudly. "You have to get in there, Kurt." The boy just nodded as his fit ceased, thinking carefully about his strategy. But a thought suddenly crossed his mind and he turned worriedly to Allie, his euphoria being brought back down by reality.

"What if he doesn't like men?" He asked with a frown. Allie raised a brow, giving him a knowing look.

"No man is completely straight," she told him, patting his shoulder comfortingly. "I wouldn't worry about that," the girl laughed, hearing a loud crash from behind their closed bathroom door, and then a loud groan of pain. Allie quickly turned to Kurt with a roll of her eyes, giving him a look that said, 'you should probably leave.' He nodded with a smile and teleported out of the room in a flash, his annoying smoke being the only thing left of the mutant.

"Peter?" Allie asked loudly, knocking on the bathroom door with worry. Hopefully he didn't hurt himself; it sounded as if he fell or dropped something.

"Yeah, just dropped the shampoo on my toe," he called back in a huff, the shower turning off quickly. The girl just shook her head and went over to their dresser, opening up the top drawer and pulling out a pastel yellow colored t-shirt and a navy blue skirt, finding it fitting enough. She'd need to go out and buy some clothing that was more up to date with the eighties fashion, even though from what she had seen out with Kurt, it wasn't that thrilling. It was more colorful and less bland, opposite to what the girl preferred.

From across the room the shower door opened, Peter strolling out with a towel around his waist. Allie lifted her night shirt from her head, taking the yellow one into her hands right as the boy came around to the dresser, digging through the second drawer for his underwear. In that moment, Allie realized how comfortable they'd become with each other, like any couple should be.

"I need to buy new clothing," the girl commented aloud, making Peter laugh as he found his Van Halen shirt from his vast selection of band tees. He briefly glanced over at her with a disapproving smile, opening up the last drawer that held their pants.

"I couldn't imagine you in half the clothes that women wear today," he admitted, pulling out a dark pair of jeans, walking around to his side of the bed. Allie made a face and stood, taking off her cotton shorts before sitting once more.

"Is it really that bad- their clothes I mean?" She asked while pulling up the skirt, turning to watch as Peter struggled to put his jeans on, bouncing on one foot as he tried not to lose balance. He nodded, finally pulling them up to his hips. Then he grabbed his shirt, gesturing out to the window that overlooked the mansion's yard.

"Look at what all of them are wearing," he pointed. Allie stood, peering out the window to find that there was a horde of girls in all neon clothing conversing with one another. Their hair was pulled up in random places with wildly designed bows and ties, and their makeup was far from being discrete. It was everything that the sixties and early seventies was not, which greatly separated Allie from the crowd. But honestly she couldn't care less, it was just her curiosity that was pulling her to take a look at the new fashion. But she really did need new clothes.

That brought her to a new thought, "I wonder if they sold my house." Peter just remained quiet for a moment, trying to decide whether to tell the girl or not. After another moment he figured it'd be best not to hide things.

"They built a new house on your lot," he said, looking up to find Allie turned towards him with a frown. She shook her head, a look of hurt on her face.

"They just… bulldozed it?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Nodding, Peter walked around their bed to wrap his arms around the girl, holding her as she fought to stop her tears. Everything really was ripped away from her. She couldn't even go home to see the house she used to live in. She couldn't see her mother or her father ever again. All she had in that moment was Peter and the school that helped them through so much in their hardships. Allie was more than thankful for that, but it still was yet another hole in her heart to hear that the old retro home was uprooted, only to be replaced by some other modern family.

All Allie could do was sink into the embrace, taking in the boy's scent as she sighed. "Thank you," she looked up to the boy, giving him a small peck on the lips before moving towards the door. "We gotta go get Angel," Peter nodded, smiling as he followed her out into the hallway to find their new student. The corridor was cluttered with new and young faces, greeting Allie pleasantly as she enjoyed the familiar environment. It was like being back in school but with people just as outcasted as she was. There was nothing more comforting than the thought.

Peter came up on the girl's side, looking around the hall with curiosity. "You know where his room is at?" He asked, trying to see if he could spot anyone familiar to him. But all around them were people he'd never met before, just nameless students that had yet to be introduced. Below the mutant, Allie nodded while taking his hand, pulling them towards the right side wall.

"Yeah, it's Kurt's room," she said, coming up on a door that was slightly ajar. They both entered without warning, finding that Angel was awake then, standing in the center of the room with only underwear on. The girl frowned, knocking on the wall beside her to catch his attention. She figured he wouldn't be too bashful to be half nude in front of them considering the door was already open anyhow.

But instead the blonde haired boy yelped, surprised to see the other two mutants. He looked confusedly behind them, seeing the door that was still not shut entirely.

"Close that," he demanded, pointing at the entry way. The door shut seemingly by no one, but Allie still felt the gush of wind that Peter left from rushing to close it. Angel just rolled his eyes at the prospect. "That idiot left it open when he practically ran out," he muttered to them, turning to grab his discarded clothing from the floor. Allie smiled, imagining Kurt walking in on the scantily clad blonde and immediately running out of the room in a flurry of blushes. He'd probably relate the entire experience to her later when they met up.

"There should be some clothing in the drawers. If not you can borrow some of mine," Peter said politely to the boy as he leaned against the wall corner, watching as Angel smelled his t-shirt skeptically. The other mutant just glanced up at the boy's attire, making a face at his band tee.

"Not my favorite, mate," he confessed with a grimace, completely dissing Van Halen. Peter just shrugged, realizing that the curly haired boy was able to throw on his shirt with ease. Where were those massive mechanical wings at? When the mutant had turned around before in his state of almost nudity, he hadn't even a scar by his shoulder blades indicating the slightest existence of them. So what exactly happened to them?

Wanting to know but not willing to ask, Peter just stayed silent. "Eh, understandable," he said instead in regards to the boy's earlier comment. They stood silently for a moment, watching as the mutant threw more layers of clothing on until he was fully dressed. Once he let out a finished huff, he looked up expectantly at both Peter and Allie, crossing his arms.

"So, you here for a reason?" He asked, peering out the window for a moment to access the outside before turning back to them. It was a nice day out, he observed. Would have been great for flight…

"Yeah," Allie said, taking a step forward. "Charles sent us to help you get acquainted with the school." Angel just stared at them for a moment longer before giving a submissive sigh, moving around his bed to approach them. There was a strange gleam in his eye as he addressed them with a sorrowful voice.

"I remember you both," he said, never forgetting a face. "Just to let you know… I- I've learned my lesson. Don't- don't try to make it harder." Allie looked to the boy with a sympathetic gaze, taking yet another step closer to put a hand on his shoulder. She looked instinctively towards where his wings used be, proudly spread and powerful. He definitely learned something, having one of his main prides taken from him. She didn't know how it occurred, but the blonde could only assume that it wasn't nice.

"It's okay, we both understand. Trust me," Allie said on account for her and Peter, looking sincerely to Angel. He gave her a hard stare that was trying to cope with being treated so… fairly. "If anyone gives you a hard time for making good on your second chance, come to us," at that, the curly haired boy nodded with a thankful grin at the couple, comforted greatly by the girl's words.

"Thanks," was all he said before shrugging Allie's hand away, gesturing towards the door knowingly. "Let's see this fucking place," he said with a mild excitement, stepping through the other mutants towards the doorway. He promptly opened it and strode out into the hall readily, turning to look at his escorts with wide eyes as if saying, 'what are you waiting for?'

Wordlessly, Allie and Peter followed, moving past Angel so that they could take the lead on either side of him. And so the tour began on the massive school.

Half and hour later…

"So basically if you want to take your classes you can, but if you're interested in what I do, go talk it up with Charles," Peter ended their tour, finding that throughout most of it, Angel was more interested in the work that the gray haired mutant did rather than the advanced classes for regular students. Seeing no problem in that, Peter told him where to go in order to look into his interests.

Beside the boy Allie furrowed her brows, considering talking to Charles herself. She really wanted to give help where it was needed, but the fact that her abilities were purely telepathic prohibited that. She couldn't conjure up her shadow men in the wake of robots, only living things. So what was she supposed to practice on?

"Cool, do you think I could go there now?" Angel asked, "to the professor I mean."

Peter was about to shrug when Allie nodded, coming to stand beside the boy. "Yeah, I'll go too. I've been itching to talk about that with him," she explained, turning to look at the gray haired boy with a matter of fact smile. Peter just made a face, raising his brows in surprise.

"You thinking on joining the X-Men too?" The fast mutant asked Allie, her smiling face being the answer. Nodding with approval, Peter gestured towards the mansion from their place in the center of the vast yard. "Well then let's go and get you both signed up."

The trio turned in silence, walking in unison back to the school as the others students relaxed and played in the warmth of that day. All of the mutants were enjoying themselves, much to Allie's pleasure as she observed the scene. Two young girls, one colored a pale green and the other sporting a tail and ears were playing together, accepted by all around them. There was nothing more comforting to the three of them as they continued through the maze of tranquility.

Not long after their trek to the mansion once more, the group of mutants found themselves within the towering walls of the school, Peter leading them to where Charles' office was. Stopping by a brooding door by the end of a hallway, the gray haired mutant raised his hand to knock, but was interrupted by a voice.

'Come in,' Charles told the boy mentally before he could even lay a finger on the wood. Nodding to himself, Peter swung the wide door open and allowed the other two mutants to enter before him. Allie just randomly prodded the boy's shoulder as she walked by him, playful smirk on her face. Peter narrowed his eyes, coming up behind her with intent to poke back until the professor questioned their presence within the room.

"What is it that brings you all here?" He asked, looking pointedly to Angel for a brief moment before settling his gaze onto Allie. She was radiating the most concern from what he could sense.

"Well," she said, glancing over at Angel for a moment before turning back to Charles. "We want to join the X-Men," the girl explained, coming to sit in the comfortable chairs perched just beyond the telepath's overtly large, oak desk. The older mutant only sighed, contemplating something for a moment before looking to Allie, then to Angel.

"Okay," he said slowly. "I advise you to talk with Hank, Angel. He might be able to-" the telepath waved his hand around obscenely between them. "To aid in regrowth of your wings." The mere idea of such a miracle set a smile upon the blonde boy's face, making him nodded vigorously.

"Yeah," he looked toward the door behind them. "That sounds good, I'll go now," then the boy practically jogged out of the room, excitedly running through the halls to find Hank. All he wanted to do was fly again- to be able to soar so high with nothing but the sun beating on his face and the wind whipping through his hair. That's all Angel ever wanted again. Apocalypse had taken too much…

Back within the office, Allie sat yet with a determined gleam in her eye, seeing Angels figure disappear around the corner before the door shut close once more. She turned back around.

"So I guess I'd have to find a different way to practice," the girl expressed her concerns, looking expectantly at Charles for answers. He thought about it for a moment before looking to her with a smile. Gesturing toward Peter he said:

"Well they can just practice on you," the professor quipped, feeling that it would be the best option to test both Allie and the other X-Men's limits. Of course the blonde would learn the full capability of her powers through the practice, and then the rest of the mutants would learn how to overcome their greatest fears in order to fight for their lives. Charles figured it would be a decent test to the morality of his students.

The girl cocked her head, looking to Charles with confusion, "what do you mean?" She asked, knowing that the man could feel the way she mentally expressed how that was definitely not what she wanted. The other X-Men practicing on her like a dummy?

The professor smiled, waving his hand dismissively between them.

"It'll be like dueling, you'll use your powers and the others in training will try to battle back. Both sides will learn how to better hone in on their abilities," the telepath explained, looking at Allie expectantly. The girl just nodded after a moment, understanding where he was coming from. It sounded like a decent practice to her. "Here," the man spoke up suddenly, "I'll give you full access, show me a fear and then I'll counteract it."

Finding the request exciting, the blonde instantly delved deep within the professor's mind and found a recent image come floating along her path. Almost as instantly two shadows began materializing beside Allie, one tall and brooding with an aura of power radiating from him and then another smaller one who was clearly in pain by the way she was being strangled to death.

It was Raven and Apocalypse, the ancient mutant holding the other in his single hand by the throat menacingly. Just by peering up at Charles' face through her concentration, Allie could tell that the sight distressed him greatly. But his hesitation didn't last long before the sounds of Mystique's gasps and choking disappeared and Allie was almost numbed. Her mind went blank and she could no longer feel the anxiety that had been caused within the man.

She looked to him once more, seeing the smirk. "I see," she said with a smile of her own. Charles just nodded, gesturing to Peter.

"You're in, starting tomorrow. Peter will take you to Hank so you can be fitted for a suit," the man said. Allie stood, waving in thanks to the professor, heading to the door that Peter had propped open with his foot.

"Thank you Charles, I'll let you know if anything comes up," she told him, pulling on Peter's jacket as she exited the entry way.

"Your welcome, I'll see you tomorrow morning," the professor gave farewell, the large doors shutting by his final words. Peter looked down the girl, following her as she headed straight for Hank's downstairs lab.

"You up for this?" He asked, hoping that becoming one of the X-Men would do the girl good rather than break her down after being so fresh out of Stryker's hands. Even though Peter didn't know the lengths of the experimenting, the boy could only imagine that Allie would have been put through certain tests in regards of her new abilities. That most likely meant violence; lots of it. He didn't want the fighting that would obviously happen during training to affect her in any way due to that.

"Hell yeah," Allie stated confidently, quelling the fear Peter felt instantly. Obviously the girl could feel the way he was thinking, knowing that her answer would help to put the boy at ease. "I am totally ready to kick your ass."

At that the gray haired mutant scoffed. "I'm sure you are." He said without much conviction. Allie turned, her mouth opened in offense.

"You think I can't win a match with you Maximoff?" She asked. Peter looked down at her with pursed lips, brows raised. They maintained a silent eye contact for a few second before they both broke out in laughter.

"Don't worry," Peter said after ceasing the sudden giggles, turning the corner that led back into the lobby. "I'll go easy on you," he assured the girl. Allie only shrugged, turning to him with dangerously narrow eyes.

"We will see about that, won't we…"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

The couple was almost nearing Hank's lab when they found Angel wandering aimlessly ahead of them, head bobbing around as he assessed his surroundings with a childish wonder. It was clear that after he practically sprinted out of Charles' office that he hadn't really taken the chance to ask directions to the Beast's little study. Just by looking at his dumbfounded expression was enough for anyone to tell that he was very much so lost.

With a smile at the sight, Peter called out to the boy, "hey Angel." The curly haired blonde turned with confusion until his gaze settled onto the other two mutants, instantly forming into a look of recognition. He smirked, throwing his arms up by his sides.

"Honestly, I've no idea where the fuck I'm going," he chuckled, looking helplessly at the approaching pair. Allie just laughed, throwing a pointed finger towards the end of the hall.

"The last door on the right," she instructed, gesturing for him to continue walking. He did so, lazily turning on his heel while they followed closely behind, coming up on the final door at last. It was painted a dark blue, different from all the others simple oak or eggshells. Mentally the girl laughed, realizing that it was probably organized so that the color corresponded with the Beast's natural form.

Peter moved between the two other mutants who stood idly in front of the door, waiting as they'd never entered there before. It was like some form of mystery- what would be hiding behind the other side? He grasped the knob and threw open the colorful door, careful to stop it from flying against the wall. Stepping within the dark room, Peter turned to coax the other two mutants in.

Allie raised her brow, turning to Angel with confusion. She expected bright lights and a rather clean cut, white interior but instead everything in the room was just drabby, cluttered with dusty books and shelves containing them. And on top of that, Hank was nowhere to be seen. Angel just shrugged at the observation, moving to walk through the threshold with mild hesitation.

The girl followed, watching as Peter knowingly stepped around the clutter of textbooks and cobwebs on the floor. There seemed to be something he was searching for on the desk before he moved the excess of an overgrown table plant. Underneath the dusted and dried leaves was a shiny silver pad; the only clean item to be found within the area. The fast mutant instinctively flipped up a small tab that protected a screen hidden beneath, pressing his thumb down onto its surface. Two blue lines roamed up and down from under the pad of his finger before a click sounded from a random location in the room.

Allie and Angel both watched the scene unfold with fascination, whipping around when they heard the ominous click from behind them.

"The hell's that?" Angel asked, looking continuously around the room. Peter smirked, dropping the little metal tab back over the screen and replacing the dried leaves to their original location, small puffs of dust fluttering off of the objects. He gestured to the then opening wall behind the pair, observing as their mouths dropped. Allie turned to him with a smile, pointing down at the finger scanner- or at least where it used to be.

"You have to do that every time?" She asked him with awe. Peter shook his head with a shrug.

"Nah," he said dismissively. "This is just the old entrance. There's an easier way to go down but I figured this would be cooler."

The ex-horseman turned with a smirk, looking between Peter and Allie in excitement. "I quite like this," he exclaimed, moving to walk through the now exposed doorway before Peter sped over to him, just barely any space between Angel and the entrance to the lift.

"That," the fast mutant said, throwing a thumb back over his shoulder. "That is a fifty foot drop," he chuckled fearfully. Allie's anxiety tripled due to the multiplication of everyone's feelings, watching as Angel backed up quickly.

"Oh, shit," he quipped.

"Yeah," Peter nodded, turning to punch a button that was the same exact color as the mustard wallpaper. Neither of them had even noticed it before then. "This calls up the lift."

"Gotcha," Angel said, listening to the creaking of the elevator that slowly ascended to the floor they were occupying. It soon arrived, making Allie nervous once she laid eyes upon it. It looked like it was straight up out of a mineshaft. There was dirt crumbling from the wires suspending the lift from the ground, its ancient and rusted metal screaming loudly with the slightest movement. A lone yellow bulb hung above the small space, making Allie wonder how such a beautiful mansion could contain such a creepy and decrepit thing such as the elevator.

Peter smirked, knowing that the two mutants were having their doubts. Which they had every right to be, considering it was like, super old.

The gray haired mutant skipped towards the lift, pulling back the gate so they could enter. Hesitantly, Allie stepped towards the elevator, looking to Peter with uncertainty. He only smiled at the two of them and nodded with encouragement.

"Go on," he coaxed. Nodding despite herself, Allie briefly glanced at Angel before stepping into it. The lift creaked with her light weight even, making the girl grimace as she waited for the others to board. Angel eyed the contraption, nearing it as well until he was within it's crumbling walls. The only thing that separated them from the dugout shaft- that clearly wasn't finished due to the fact that the walls were nothing more than dried dirt- were far spaced bars. It made the two mutants want to protest going down but Peter stepped in, finalizing their fates.

He closed the gate once more and then pulled a lever on the door frame downwards, descending them into whatever lab Hank possessed.

"So like, why is this here?" Allie questioned Peter, hoping to understand why there was just an ancient lift installed in a random room of the mansion. Perhaps it was there before Charles had even bought the home, or it was an earlier path to the lab before a staircase was put in for easier access.

The gray haired mutant shrugged, "I don't know- never thought to ask. We can see when we get down there." Angel skeptically stared at the wires that continuously reeled them further down, turning to look at the pair with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"So," he said suddenly, opening up what Allie figured would be some question about the time they had spent together in Egypt, fighting Apocalypse. "How did you both get caught up in this shitfest?" He asked, surprising her. Peter laughed at that one. If only their story was short enough to tell before they made it to Hank's lab.

"Buy us two beers and we will gladly tell all," the boy informed Angel, causing his smirk to widen. Nodding he clasped his hands together in an agreeing gesture.

"Sure, afterwards?" He said. Allie smiled.

"Yeah," they planned before the lift suddenly came to a halt. Allie turned back to face the entryway when she found that there was the entire lab that she had imagined prior just inches beyond them. "Holy shit," she exclaimed, impatiently waiting as Peter pulled the gate away once more to allow them the anticipated exit.

From a little ways in the lab, around the corner, Allie could hear the shuffling of someone approach them. Soon enough, Hank rounded to where they were struggling to escape the lift, his frown being evident. It looked as though he weren't expecting visitors nor was he expecting them to come in the run down elevator that he'd specifically told Peter not to put into use on many occasions. But yet the twenty seven year old still had every ounce of mischief that a child possessed, and repeatedly disobeyed the rules that the Beast had set beforehand. Oh well, it wasn't that great of an offense anyhow. Though Hank still chastised the boy.

"I thought I'd have told you enough not to use the lift, but yet here we are," the man said, looking pointedly at Peter who at last unjammed the gate, pushing it against the track so Angel and Allie could skip out and admire the room they found themselves within. Everything was so fascinating, from the vast amounts of aircrafts to the chemistry stands scattered throughout the room. There were testing chambers and on the far wall, the suits that the X-Men wore during training. Allie couldn't help but imagine what she'd look like in one; how her modifications would differ from the others.

"Yeah, yeah. Figured I'd let them check this out in case of something," Peter shrugged nonchalantly, walking up behind Allie to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Hank just scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Yes in case of trouble I'd rather take the hundred year old lift over the staircase," the Beast sarcastically agreed, gesturing to the old contraption that lie behind the trio. "That'd be my first choice- every time." Peter could only laugh at the way that Hank became flustered, walking towards the center of the large room. Allie followed from beneath his arm, glancing to her left to find Angel staring at everything contained within with wonder. Watching as all three of the mutants furthered, Hank questioned them.

"So, why are you here?" He asked. Angel turned to him.

"I need my wings back, mate," he said as if it was the most simple thing that the Beast could just conjure up. Hank furrowed his brows, nodding in compliance as he took a stock check around the room, spotting various metals that could be used to create another pair of mechanical ones for the boy. It would be surely possible, but he'd have to be given enough to time evaluate the boy and figure out what would need to be done to make him comfortable with the new set, because it likely wouldn't feel like the last. Hank would hate to give Angel a pair of wings that were incomparable to his own, forcing him to fly uncomfortably.

"Uh yeah, that's doable, I'll just need to build some out of- let me see what-" the Beast turned to check what he had on his shelves when Angel shook his head, taking a step forward.

"No, no. I had real wings," he said, causing Hank to turn with confusion. "Like, white feathers and shit. Those kinda wings," he explained to the man, flapping his hands up and down in a little flight motion. The Beast's mouth made an 'o' shape, looking to Angel with interest; he'd never known that.

"So what you need is to regrow them," Hank said, understanding. At the thought he knew exactly what serum to use, just a little less than what he had prescribed to himself many years back. Angel nodded, crossing his arms. "I've got just the thing already, I'll just need a blood sample." Immediately the blonde boy perked, jutting his arm out, ready for the blood to be taken. Hank smiled at his eagerness, jogging to a table littered with filled vials, grabbing an empty syringe from it's surface.

He ran back to the blonde, taking his forearm and carefully poking the needle through his skin, drawing the blood slowly for further tests.

Behind them, Allie and Peter both watched as if mesmerized by the Beast's practice, the boy grimacing at the sight of the blood though. The blonde noticed how squirmish he was becoming, making her take a dip in his fears. She subtly chuckled at seeing that he was a little bit at odds with gore, even if it was the slightest thing; such as a blood sample.

"What's wrong?" Allie prodded the boy's ribs as Hank pulled the needle out, having a sufficient amount to make the serum. Peter tightened his hold on the girl, peering down at her so he wouldn't have to watch as the Beast pulled the needle slowly out, almost as if taunting Peter purposefully.

"I can't stand that shit," he said, cringe on his features evident in the way he avoided the scene taking place next to them. Hank ran back to the table he had gotten the syringe from, setting the sample down before grabbing medical tape and a small piece of cloth. The Beast returned quickly, setting the folded bandage over the place where a small dribble of blood fell, securing it with the tape.

"David was bleeding pretty bad when you fucked him up," Allie said, turning to peer up at the boy. "You weren't scared then." Peter scoffed, looking down onto the girl with a smirk.

"That's 'cause I was pissed," he told her, squeezing the blonde's shoulder. Hank turned, looking at the pair with curiosity. He set down the tape on the table behind them and nodded to Angel.

"You're good, I'll have it for tomorrow," then turned back to the two other mutants there, gesturing up at the ceiling. "David still works here, y'know," he informed Peter more so than Allie, crossing his arms and leaning back against the table. Angel looked confusedly between the other three mutants, not knowing who David was or why Peter was pissed and apparently made him bloody. Perhaps he'd learn over their planned beers later on.

The fast mutant could only laugh when he heard that the ex-agent was still working the gardens, knowing that Charles had kept him around all those years. Now that it had been so long since the whole incident, Peter wouldn't be opposed to meeting up with the agent at some point. Maybe Allie could explain to him what actually went on in the facility; help him realize what cause he'd worked for a decade prior.

"No shit," he said with a chuckle, running a hand through his hair. Did he even comb it? "We should talk to him sometime," he said, turning to Allie while releasing his hands from the gray tangles. He decided that no, he did not it fact comb his hair. Below him, the blonde shuddered slightly before nodding, throwing her hands out towards Hank.

"So anyways, I'm here to be fitted for a suit," she told the man, smile planted firmly on her lips as she stepped away from Peter's arm. "I'm gonna be an X-Man," she then exclaimed with a mild excitement, turning to look at Angel who was smirking at her knowingly. He was just as ecstatic by the proposition he'd been allowed and hoped to everything that the other mutants were as nice as Allie and Peter had been to him. Even Hank, who could've easily declined making anything for the boy, but instead gladly made the offer.

Angel could understand it if people were still angry with him, namely those who were victim of his short lived reign. It's just… Angel didn't have anyone there for him when he was finally able to free himself from the German fight club, as all he could do was hold up in an old warehouse, drinking whiskey and blaring metal into his eardrums with a mind of self degradation. There was nothing until there was something- rather suddenly too. Apocalypse appeared from nowhere, two powerful mutants standing behind him with confidence. Until they saw his misfortune.

He hated the look in their eyes as they observed the way his flight was damaged and his eyes were heavy with a guilty intoxication. He was pathetic really, and he knew it. But what turned the tables for him was the fact that Apocalypse did not waver in the way he viewed the young man, eyes set determined as he morphed Angel into something else entirely. It was a refreshing feeling of being in power once more; having the control that had been lost with his ability to fly freely.

After the blonde was able to understand that he was given a new start, he felt the need to pay a great thank you to Apocalypse, gladly walking through the purple vortex that was awaiting the group. He felt wanted, and he didn't care how he would have to remain in that standing with each of the mutants.

Not even when they tore an entire city to shreds, conquering it for their own as the empire of Apocalypse would be built upon the ruined soil. There would be no second thoughts about it if not for the fact that the X-Men showed up, much to their surprise. And it wasn't long before Angel realized that he stood no chance against their varying numbers and determination.

He remembered the plane crash, the way he crawled just in time out of the hatch located on the roof before being blasted to unconsciousness. The blonde knew that he'd awoken at one point, feeling a disappointed gaze on him before he even saw it. It was Apocalypse, and he wasn't happy. Angel didn't know what was going to happen to him, but he knew it wasn't going to be anything simple. No- it was dreadfully degrading.

As if it was nothing, the wings on Angel's back were turned to dust, his body being buried in his dead pride. Without another word, Apocalypse's figure disappeared to an unknown part of the destruction, not sparing the blonde any mercy as he left him there to die. But, as if saved by a real angel, the boy was still alive when the evening came, the sunset gliding over his face peacefully. There was no longer an overhanging dread that enveloped his mind, and it was in that moment that he knew Apocalypse was dead. And he… he was alive.

And that was also when Angel knew he had to change. He had to put his trust in those who he had wronged as it was the right thing to do. So he peeled himself up from the ground, frowning as what was left of his beautiful wings seeped onto the ground around him, and then left. Angel fled to New York as soon as he could, seeking the professor until finally he stumbled upon the home after a rather eventful night of drinking.

Angel smiled at the memory, looking blankly at the space beside Hank's head, entirely lost in thought until two hands came upon his shoulder, shaking roughly.

"Hey, Angel? You good?" It was Allie, her concerned face just below the boy's as he shook his head, realizing that he'd been completely zoned out for much longer than he thought, as Allie had two roles of measuring tape in her hands. Was she already done with getting fitted?

"Yeah," the boy blinked, drawling out his answer, staring around the room to find that Peter was looking expectantly at him, Hank in the background as he put away a few materials that he must've demoed on the girl. "Yeah, I just uh- I just zoned out. Wanna go get those beers?" He asked the pair, hoping that he could quickly change the embarrassing subject they found themselves in. Allie only nodded skeptically before turning back to Peter with a sigh.

"I mean yeah, we aren't doing anything," she said, watching as Peter shrugged in agreement, arms crossed as he took Hank's prior position of leaning against the table closest to the lift. "Let's go then," the girl quipped, turning back to Hank for a moment.

"Hey," she called out to the Beast. He turned, an armful of glass beakers in his arms tediously. "Thanks for today, I'll stop in tomorrow morning." Hank just nodded with a smile, setting down the easily breakable items within his hands quickly before jogging around the maze of lab tables to the other mutants.

"No problem guys," he said, finally coming up beside Allie who smiled gratefully at the man, turning to look at Angel pointedly. He only allowed his eyes to widen, realizing that she was mothering him into saying his thanks. Turning quickly to the Beast, he struck out his hand like an idiot.

"Thanks," he said quickly, feeling Hank grab on, shaking at the gesture.

"Your welcome, yours should be finished by tomorrow night- give or take," he said, dropping their shake to look at Peter who was tip toeing back towards the ancient lift. He shook his head, walking briskly to the gray haired boy who was not going to be using that damned elevator anymore. "No, no. I don't think so. You guys are going to be using the staircase from now on."

Peter scoffed, "that's so underwhelming though." Hank rolled his eyes at the boys whines, directing the other mutants to where the steps were.

"Safe and convenient is underwhelming to you?" The Beast asked, fighting to keep his expression serious. Peter always got to his funny bone some how, some way. The boy just waved his arms out with a dry chuckle.

"Yes!" He yelled, spying the staircase in front of them.

"Will it be underwhelming if I cut the wires and the next time you ride the lift you'll drop fifty feet straight down to my lab?" At that, Peter just gulped, looking at Hank with narrowed eyes. Behind him Allie and Angel both laughed at hearing the conversation, looking at each other as if they knew already how training would go down between Hank and Peter.

"I never really took you for a trickster like that," Peter confessed. Hank only laughed.

"Oh you have no idea."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

The bartender lined three beers in front of the mutants, the blonde one throwing the cost onto the counter lazily before turning to the couple.

"So, let's begin," Angel said, staring expectantly at the pair until Allie turned to him, swallowing her first sip of the alcohol. She duly noted that it wasn't cold, making it a little less enjoyable. But it would loosen her up either way.

"Actually can we wait just one sec, I've got a friend coming," Allie informed the boy with a raised finger, glancing at the entrance of the bar quickly to see if the other mutant had arrived yet. Before they left the school the blonde had sought out Kurt, who'd been held up in his shared room with Angel, patiently waiting on their return. Before the ex-horseman himself could make it there, she'd quickly let him in on the plan to grab a few drinks at the tavern that they had previously stopped at when discovering American culture. Though she left out the part of Angel coming along. Considering Kurt at fled the bedroom when he discovered the curly haired blonde was awake, Allie figured he'd be less inclined to join them if he knew Angel was going to be present.

So now all they had to do was play the waiting game and hope that Kurt didn't run away again and make a fool of himself.

No- instead he made a rather embarrassing entrance by teleporting in the barstool right beside Allie, leaving an inky cloud of smoke to suffocate not only her but Peter and the bartender as well. The older man holding two drinks to be served to the other patrons just coughed, rolling his eyes when he discovered the blue mutant to be the cause of his distress. Peter just swatted the wafting smoke in front of his face away, turning towards Kurt with a frown.

"Glad for you to join us," he commented, taking a swig of his beer. To his left, Angel coughed, accidentally sucking some of the blue smoke in only to leave it blow out from his nose. So this was going to be his roommate for the rest of his time in the school.

"Perfect," the ex-horseman muttered, catching the attention of the three other mutants; especially Kurt, who looked to Allie immediately. She just shrugged and smiled at the boy, finding that his anxiousness was endearing and only hoped that maybe it would make Angel loosen up a bit. Hopefully by the end of their little bonding session, the two boys would get along a little better. And then maybe with due time become more than better. Allie mentally winked at the thought, looking down the counter at Angel who was already down a beer, hailing the bartender for another.

"Wanna head to a table," she asked the other blonde, making him look up unexpectedly at the opposite end of their line. Allie could feel Kurt shudder beside her as he practically gawked at Angel from his seat, hand moving to grab the girl's beer before taking a sip. The blonde watched as the Nightcrawler assessed the liquid within his mouth briefly before almost spitting it out, but stopping himself. Instead he swallowed it and felt the skin by his throat.

"Yeah," Angel answered Allie in a slow drawl, standing to grab a free table in the corner of the room. Peter followed suit, leaving the girl and Kurt in the rear. He continued scratching at his throat, looking worriedly to the mutant beside him.

"It's warm in my throat!" He whisper yelled, making Allie laugh. She only patted his shoulder, pulling him along towards their new seating.

"Don't worry, that's how the drink is," she reassured him, sitting in the chair that Peter had pulled out for her beforehand. Allie nodded thanks to the gray haired mutant, a soft smile on her lips as he sat beside her. They looked at each other for a moment, caught in their gaze before realizing that they were in the presence of others. Quickly the couple scrambled to grab their beers, looked pointedly at both Angel and Kurt. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed to be hours, waiting for the conversation to begin.

"Okay," Peter said, leaning to rest his elbows on the table, beer swinging between them. "I wanna know how you two met." Angel and Kurt just looked to each other, waiting to see who would start before the latter turned back to the couple.

"I was taken to an underground fight club against my will," Kurt stated bluntly, raising his brows at the other mutants with a shrug. He tapped one of his large fingers against the tabletop, trying to figure out how to make himself sound more appealing for the curly haired blonde beside him. "After I murdered my brother," he then said casually, seeing Angel's head snap towards the mutants direction through his peripheral. Okay, maybe that was a bit too far, and not said with the right context.

"Right," Allie quickly said. "Because he was hurting kids," she recalled from their mall confessions and partly just to make Angel's judging frown go away. Kurt just nodded, making the curly haired blonde sit back against his seat once more, his second beer reaching a sudden end as the last bit was swallowed down. Deciding he didn't want to go overboard during what was going to be a decent conversation, Angel just neglected the bottle, setting it aside and reclining in the chair.

"And I ran away from home," the blonde told everyone, explaining vaguely as to how he ended up in club. Even though he purposefully went there in the beginning to escape life, it backfired on the mutant after the ring leader was replaced and began forcefully taking more fighters. And he put a tight leash on the ones that were already there, much to his displeasure. So he was bound to a life of an unsatisfying glory that would've turned bland after awhile, if not for Kurt.

"How long were you there before I arrived?" The blue mutant asked the other, leaning in his seat stiffly to look at the boy. Angel just shrugged, sighing as he took a moment to think about it. He knew it was a long time, because he stayed with the original ringleader for about three months before the replacement. After that he couldn't leave which landed him in four months of working his way to the top of the bids.

"Little over half a year," the boy finally said, running his thumb over the rim of his empty beer bottle. "Then the blue one came along," Angel then rolled his eyes half playfully, half serious as he jerked a thumb in Kurt's direction. The blue mutant's cheeks blossomed a deeper navy color, his hands coming to clasp together so as to hide the way in which they shook. Allie was the only one who noticed, a sympathetic smile reaching her face as she looked towards him.

"I saved you," Kurt said matter of factly, turning to look fully at the boy. Angel turned as well, mirroring the other mutant's actions. There was a look in his narrowed eyes that set an unsettling feeling within the Nightcrawler.

"You broke me," Angel said calmly, a cool smile on his lips, though his eyes spoke a different story. Kurt could see past his mean looking demeanor and rather took the time to evaluate the hurt in him; how it was a pain for the boy to have his pride taken from him- to have his mutation ripped away. It really did make the blue mutant feel guilty, but at the same time the blonde was hounding him to fight, otherwise the club owners would come after them.

"You told me to," the other boy said equally calm, his big yellow eyes conveying how sorry he really did feel yet how it was brought onto him with force. Angel was taunting him, telling him to fight otherwise they'd be reprimanded. "I didn't mean to hurt you." There was a short silence, the blonde's jaw ticking as he thought about what the blue mutant was saying.

He'd almost aided in the end of the world, and look where he was: sitting freely in a bar with three people who'd almost died because of him. That was the biggest example of forgiveness if Angel ever saw it, so he figured it'd only be fair not to be so tough on the kid as it was a literal miracle that the blonde was living through at the moment. The best thing he could do for Kurt was give him a chance, as he'd been given one that meant everything to him.

"It's alright," Angel said just barely above a whisper, head craned to look directly at the blue mutant. Kurt's eyes softened, becoming wider as he continued to look into the boy's eyes.

From across the table Allie and Peter watched the sight with wonder, only Allie understanding how significant it was to Kurt to be sharing such a moment with the blonde. Beside her the gray haired mutant just thought it was weird- whatever the hell they were doing, looking at each other with big puppy dog eyes.

"Cool, so-" Allie suddenly kicked Peter from beneath the table, making the boy's eyes widen and look to her. By that point it was too late, Angel and Kurt's attentions were already averted but still it got the message across; don't interrupt them when they have a moment.

"So," Allie said, hand propped beneath her jaw. "How'd you both escape then?" Kurt just shrugged, brows furrowed as he tried to remember all that happened within that crazy night at the club. Before he could gather everything that occurred, Angel answered from beside him with mild exasperation. Just thinking about their sudden escape made him wary for some reason, recalling how it was a monumental moment that led into an entire other shit storm even worse than the forced labor.

"The electricity was cut, so I could get through the fence without hurting myself," the blonde explained with a shrug.

"Who cut the power?" Peter questioned, taking another sip of his drink with curiosity. Kurt smiled, thinking about the great moment in which he realized Mystique was his savior, them standing in the alley just after they'd narrowly missed recapture. There hadn't been a day that the blue boy didn't think about that, knowing that he really should do a little more in appreciation of the woman. Though she assured him that his participation in the X-Men program was all the thanks she'd ever need, he still felt that there was a sincere effort needed to thank her.

"Raven did," the boy informed them, waving his hand around. "She took me to this bald man. I got my picture taken!" He then exclaimed, smiling proudly at everyone around the table. Allie and Peter both grinned in how child-like Kurt came off in the moment, but from across them Angel just scoffed, taking the idea more so as a joke rather than endearing.

"She took you for pictures? Nothing else important?" The mutant asked, a peculiar smile on his lips as he assessed Kurt, who once again turned a deeper blue at the expression directed towards him. The blue boy shook his head, his eyes cast upwards playfully as he thought about his own lackadaisy.

"There was importance, but I just didn't listen," Kurt nodded, laughing when Angel made a face at how dismissive he apparently was. Allie couldn't help but smirk at the way that they kept bouncing comments off of each other, knowing that Kurt must've been having the greatest day of his life now that Angel was actually having a respective conversation with him. And not only a decent talk, but a humorous one where they could learn their varying stances; learn more about how they came up to that very moment.

"The blue one is ridiculous," Angel noted, looking pointedly at the couple as he raised an accusing finger in the direction of the other mutant. Kurt scoffed, hands raised almost above his head as he looked over at the blonde.

"Do you even know my name?" The boy asked with a laugh, making Angel chuckle as well. He nodded and turned in his seat to further face the other.

"Yeah Kurt, I do," he said as if it was a no brainer, having just called him the 'blue one' for the fun of it. Of course he knew the mutant's name, he was his roommate after all. "Think I'm some sorta swine?" Everyone laughed at that, the whole table enjoying the evident antics that would occur between the blonde and teleporter throughout their time in the school. Clearly, there was some innocent chemistry between the two, much to Allie's delight. Obviously Angel wasn't quite to the point where he'd like Kurt in the same way the other boy did him, but they were still off to a good start.

Allie almost expected the blonde to be more bitter about the fact that Kurt was the reason for his downfall, but instead was met with the sight of the pair laughing and carrying along as if they were long lost friends; ones that put aside their finalizing fight to just be together once more. There was something so special about that to Allie, who watched on like a mother would her child. Kurt was so young and so full of potential to do great things in the world- which he had already. Taking out Apocalypse is no normal thing. The girl was just proud that he had come such a long way from his roots, gaining more than what he probably could ever imagine.

And now there he was, sitting beside the guy he really liked, having the time of his life. There was nothing more exciting than that; Allie should know.

She peered over slightly, glancing at the gray haired mutant beside her as he laughed at the bickering mutants in front of them. Time seemed to slow as she did so. Allie vaguely remembered reading about such moments, ones where the light seems to shimmer around them just right, the sounds around falters to nothing more than a drone that is outcasted by the sight of beauty. She never would have thought that she would have a moment like that, let alone wondering if it even existed. She supposed that it was the true love that was just another recurring theme in time.

Whatever it was, the blonde was glad that she had it. Peter's smile seemed to quell all of her fears, making the girl briefly forget the stains on her fingertips, forget Stryker's malicious eyes, and forget the hatred in the world they lived in. He made it all go away; as she turned back to look at the other couple, Allie only hoped that one day they could feel that way about each other. Feel love.

"I think we should've just let you two have a dinner date," Allie declared with a lighthearted laugh, leaning over the table as she took another sip of her beer. She looked to Peter, finding that his was already empty, so she just passed hers along the tabletop to him. The gray haired mutant only shrugged and took it without hesitation to his lips.

Both Angel and Kurt quieted down, nodding with raised brows as they looked between each other and the other mutants. "We'll be stuck together a lot, no need to worry," the curly haired boy said, running his thumb over the bottle's rim once again. Kurt only smiled his little white smile and shrugged almost in a shy gesture. Allie could tell just by looking at him that he was feeling those little fluttering butterflies in his belly, a feeling that she was accustomed to as well.

"Yeah," the blue mutant huffed out, trying to casually recline back in his chair. He could sense that Allie was noticing the way he was beginning to fidget once again, due to the way that Angel talked about the two of them. "Yes we will."

"Ah," a feminine voice said from behind Allie, surprising her. The blonde turned, finding that Raven was coming towards their table with a raised brow. "This is where everyone ran off to." Everyone smiled at the mutant, watching as she pulled a chair away from another table, pushing it towards their own before taking a seat. Allie and Peter both noted that she didn't wear her natural blue form, but rather the teased blonde one that seemed to be her go-to when in the eyes of the public.

"Welcome," Peter said, waving his beer in front of him. "Wanna drink?" The Mystique shook her head, crossing her legs as she leaned back into the seat with a sense of authority.

"No, no. I have to be heading back soon for training. I'm just here to see about these two," she then pointed to Allie and Angel, who looked at each other for a moment before turning back to their new instructor. "I want to talk about the X-Men."

"Oh?" Allie said, curiosity piqued as she moved a little closer to the woman she sat beside. "About us joining?" Raven nodded, gesturing towards the blonde girl as she began talking.

"Yeah, I want you to train with me- in combat I mean," the woman explained. "I know you have telepathic abilities, but I want you to be capable to fight if that isn't available." The blonde nodded along with Raven, who looked at her directly, waiting for a response as she ended her short proposition. The girl only clasped her hands in an agreeing gesture.

"Sure," she quipped, bouncing in her seat slightly as she smiled with excitement. Allie was ecstatic to finally get started with her part in the program, hoping to do whatever she could to further their progress. Perhaps even get others interested in the cause if possible. Anything would help, she supposed. "I'm ready to start whenever." The Mystique smiled at her eagerness, seeming to be impressed with how much Allie really did want to offer her aid in any way, shape or form.

"Good, we will start tomorrow," Raven planned, turning to Angel thereafter. "And you, I'll do some combat with you too. You'll join us." The blonde boy smirked with a nod of his head, curls bouncing with the movement as he made no effort to protest the proposition. "Hank is going to slowly give you low doses of his serum. Your wings will take a little bit of time to grow, so in the meantime we will do basic training, like I said."

"Sounds wonderful," the boy said, staring down at his empty beer awkwardly, not knowing what else to add to their conversation. Sensing that they'd reached a stiff finish to their talk, Raven clapped her hands lightly together.

"So, what brought you four here?" She asked, trying to do a little socialization with her colleagues. It was Peter who spoke up, having had a good relationship with the blue woman without being as distant as the others were.

"Just trying to get to know each other a bit better," the gray haired boy informed her, leaning over the table further to better look her in the eyes. Raven smiled warmly at seeing them try to act so naturally, like any friends would if going out to grab a couple drinks. Especially considering they did so with Angel, who the woman was skeptical of after she heard of his return. Though she still harbored feelings of disdain for the boy and what he did, she wasn't so worried about him.

No- she was more worried about how he would fair in the school, surrounded by people who had heard of the four horsemen and their leader Apocalypse, knowing that Angel was of those who took part in the group. But, seeing as he wasn't in the center of a brawl or cursing out other kids, Raven considered th maybe he was getting along with everyone pretty well. She only hoped it would stay that way, and not go South at the last moment. Having a dispute could be fatal; she knew that much.

"Oh well that's nice, learn anything surprising," Raven mentally cringed at how old she sounded, like she was talking to a bunch of toddlers, asking if they discovered anything amazing at school that day. Everyone else at the table seemed to pick up on it too, but ignored the idea and answered honestly.

"Yeah, found out how these two met. I heard you were the reason they were saved?" Allie said, throwing a inquisitive glance Mystique's way. The naturally blue woman nodded with a sorrowful frown, remembering how she was able to save Kurt from the hands of the fight club. And then Angel as well, though he wasn't her main focus at the time. But she was still glad to have released him from the terrible place, even if it practically tossed him into the hands of Apocalypse.

Raven curled into herself slightly as she looked to both Kurt and Angel, "yep. And I'm very happy to see you both safe now." Everyone was silent, but mutually agreed in just the way that they looked between each other knowingly. There was something being shared in that moment, between all the mutants. Something that said no matter what, they would stick together.

"There are cruel people in the world," Kurt muttered, lips pursed as he looked hard at the table top. All of the mutants nodded in unison, Raven sitting up slightly to place her hands on the wooden surface before them.

"This is true," she said in a sigh. "But you know what, we have each other."

Quietly, everyone smiled.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty- One

They weren't drunk, but they were tipsy, and that was all they needed to get heated.

Peter and Allie both stumbled into their shared room, bodies already on each other as they were pulled into a kiss that they had been craving the entire night, staring at each other with fiery gazes until they finally left the bar. There was no voice of reason between them, as it was muddled by the stream of alcohol in their systems and the euphoria of being so close. Nothing would be stopping them as the couple continued until finally on top of the bed, covers wrapping around them in undesired tangles.

If he really wanted, Peter could have both of their clothes off in a single second, and the thought was quite appetising in his drunken stupor. But he decided not to at the last minute, as Allie was already inching his band tee up his torso and if the gray haired mutant would admit anything, it was that he didn't mind the slow action one bit. The girl feverishly tore the item up and over his head, throwing it at the wall opposite to them before pulling back into their kiss once more, her hands tangled in his gray tresses.

That time it was Peter's turn, who took a moment to snake his hands up along her waist, feeling the warm skin supple beneath his fingers as her little v-neck bundled by his wrists; then it was off too.

It wasn't long until there was nothing but a few thin layers between them, but Peter paused anyhow. They were so close to what full intimacy could be described as, yet he was scared. For what, he didn't know, but the boy was sure that Allie could sense it as she pulled away from him, a soft smile on her face as she looked lovingly at him through her dark eyes.

"It's okay," she whispered to him, loosening her legs that were locked tight around his hips, but pulling his face closer with the arms looped around his neck. "I love you." Then she kissed him, softly- not so rough like before, with an unquenchable desire but rather pure and utterly innocent love. He could see it in her eyes, in her smile and Peter could only hope that she could see it within his too. Because that was truly what he felt: love.

There was a pause, until he leaned in further towards her, placing his lips on her's. "I love you too," he confessed at last, moving to unstrap her bra. She smirked into their kiss, feeling the piece of clothing fall away from her chest. Peter leant down, placing small kisses down her neck and towards the center of her chest until he was met with her breasts, peering up at the girl with one final question of permission in his eyes.

Allie blinked slowly before nodding, allowing her eyes to fall shut.

The next morning…

His night wasn't very eventful, other than watching as Kurt became flustered when Angel said he would be heading in for a shower. Even though the two mutants got to learn a lot about each other at their little bar trip, the blonde would admit that he felt there was still some secrets left deaf on his ears. Especially when it came to watching the little ticks that Kurt magically conjured up whenever he talked to him; and only him. The ex-horseman didn't really know why sometimes the blue boy would stutter in his speech or seem to reach an even darker navy tint when he was around him, but he eventually figured it was just out of the fact that they had fought each other once. Considering that, maybe Kurt was just trying to overcome it by facing the blonde straight on.

Either way, Angel decided to forget about the mind boggling thoughts as he walked towards Peter and Allie's room, knocking lightly on their door as he waited for an answer. There was none, so he tried the knob and found it unlocked. He was about to open it when he paused, wondering if he would be invading on anything; remembering when they walked in on him practically naked the day before. Though, the highest chance of them being awake at all was slim to none, as they didn't answer his knocking.

"Don't stand here like an idiot, mate," Angel muttered to himself, looking to his right to find a few loitering kids staring at him as he seemed to contemplate something. Or maybe they recognized him- who knew. But, just to show off, the blonde looked directly at the group with pursed lips and promptly opened up the dorm door, not breaking eye contact until the wall was between their locked gazes. Hearing the door click, Angel laughed and walked around the corner leading into the main area, finding that the couple was in fact sleeping.

And they weren't half naked, but rather completely naked.

The blonde couldn't help but yelp at seeing the two, taking a step back into their striped walls, unknowing of how he should handle their situation. He felt very uncomfortable, but he was told to have everyone up and early for their day. So it was kind of up to him to make sure that the couple didn't get into trouble for not showing up to training. But it was just so damn awkward.

Angel sighed, looking around for ideas when he saw the door. Maybe he could wake them up by closing it a little more loudly. Good idea, he thought while walking towards the exit, pulling the knob so that the door was wide open before slamming it. He could only imagine what those kids in the hall were thinking now.

The boy turned then, coming back around the corner to see that they didn't budge, the noise having not phased their sleep in the slightest. Groaning at the unchanged sight, Angel decided enough was enough and walked over to Peter's side of the bed and prodded his shoulder lightly. His body shook back and forth with the pressure but didn't seem to awaken.

"Fuck's sake," the blonde muttered, rolling his eyes as he placed both of his hands on the boy's arm, pushing up against him. "Peter," he then said loudly. Finally, the mutant awoke, groggily turning to look up at Angel as if he was in a daze.

"Heyyyy," he said, voice scratchy sounding.

"Hey," Angel replied with a laugh, brows furrowed as he watched the boy assess his surroundings, until his eyes widened. Peter quickly whipped his head around to look at where Allie was lying, thankfully on her stomach. He didn't want her to be fully exposed to the world while Angel was standing right there with them, though he politely enough was trying to maintain direct eye contact with Peter. The gray haired mutant sighed in relief, reaching over towards the girl to pull their covers further up along her back.

"What time is it?" Peter asked then, more coherent. The blonde stood up straight, looking down at his little makeshift looking watch that he'd gotten at a pawn shop.

"Eight," he informed him.

"Agh, shit," then the mutant reached over and pushed at Allie's shoulder. "Hey, Allie, wake up. We need to go soon," he said, knowing that it wouldn't take much and she'd be up too. As if on cue, the blonde stirred, legs creating waves in the covers as she came to. She was about to sit up when Peter quickly pushed her back down onto the bed, looking worriedly to Angel who stood there yet.

"Ah, no, don't sit up. Angel is here too," the fast mutant said with a laugh, making a shooing motion towards Angel who was awkwardly addressing the floor. From beside Peter, Allie wiped her eyes and looked up towards the other blonde, face turning to a look of surprise when she realized Peter wasn't lying.

"Oh, jeez," she yelped, pulling the blanket around her body so nothing more than her face showed to the two boys. "Sorry you had to walk in on… this." Angel shook his head, moving towards the door with a sheepish smile, the fact that they probably had a bit of an eventful night finally clicking in his mind. He put his hands up, knocking the corner of their short hall with his back.

"Don't worry 'bout it, just wanted to get you both up. See you at training," and then he turned, leaving.

"Thank you, see you then," Allie called to the boy before hearing their door close. As soon as it did, the blonde flew into a laughing fit and tossed herself face first into their mattress. Peter smiled, sitting up to stretch his arms above his head. "Oh my God, I can't believe he walked in on us." The other mutant just shrugged, arms dropping with two profound thuds.

"At least he didn't last night," he admitted with pursed lips, looking at Allie as she lifted herself up, cheeks suddenly tinged red as she recalled everything that had happened. It was… definitely something she'd never experienced before, though it wasn't very far from what she'd read about in certain novels back in the simplistic high school days.

"Yeah no shit, I'd be requesting separate training lessons with him if that happened- maybe even check out of the school, or just the state of New York entirely," the girl sighed, loosening her grip on the cover around her shoulders but still keeping it over her so she wouldn't flash the boy beside her; though Allie was sure Peter wouldn't mind, she still had the decency to cover herself. Or perhaps it was just the everlasting shyness that she managed to withhold all these years. Either way she kept the cloth secure as she reached over to their dresser, grabbing her underwear and one of the other mutant's t-shirts.

"So I've been meaning to talk to you…" Peter said suddenly from behind the her, making Allie's heart sink. She didn't know what he was going to say, but it wasn't often that Peter became so serious so quick; which was the reason for her distress. The blonde whipped around, holding her bundle of clothing tight as she looked questioningly to him. The gray haired mutant just gave her a soft smile, noticing that she was worried over his next words. "Don't worry," he grinned. "It's nothing bad."

Allie released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, nodding quickly before working at redressing herself. Peter went on as he turned to look around their cluttered room.

"I know I haven't mentioned it much," he paused, glancing down as he smoothed their blankets over his legs before continuing. "But I wanna try a- and… see my dad at some point." Allie quickly brought the boy's old Led Zeppelin tee over her head, scooching closer to him once she finished.

She thought about his words from before, how he had confessed his secret on the front lawn of the soon-to-be school, looking up admiringly at his father. Allie couldn't help but let her heart be warmed by the fact that Peter finally knew- she didn't want to say that he had closure but she figured that it was like an age long question being solved at last. To wonder who your dad was for years and then to find out in such a strange time must've been tough on him, despite the fact that he seemed pretty elated to have made the discovery. There was just one worry on the girl's mind.

In no way would Allie move to not give Erik a chance, especially considering how he made a most likely life changing decision to turn against Apocalypse, but she couldn't help to doubt his intentions. It was no secret to everyone who had ever heard of the man that he was a loose cannon, one single little thing sending him off for a number of years. It seemed that no matter what, the mutant was either getting revenge on people or creating (or joining) some sort of anti-human hate group.

It just wasn't something that Allie wanted Peter to be a part of, but she also didn't want to be the person who would tell him not to go after his father. Just the thought of saying anything along those lines to the boy made her sick to the stomach. She didn't want to suppress him from his goals in any way, though the girl wouldn't hesitate to dismantle anyone or anything that ever dared to try and hurt Peter. If he wanted to see his father more and be involved, then that was great. But if Erik ever stepped over a certain line, he would be dealing with Allie who still had her suspicions.

Realizing that she'd been silent for a while, Allie looked quickly up to the boy. "Yeah, I think that would be great," she told him in a light tone, nodding in agreement. Peter smiled once more, head bobbing to the side.

"You don't trust him," he predicted the truth. The blonde wasn't going to deny it, but she wouldn't flat out tell him how she felt entirely either.

"You're right," she admitted. "But I still think that you should tell him. He… he deserves a chance for happiness- and so do you. I just want you to be happy," she then said, crawling over to Peter to wrap her arms around him lovingly. The mutant only sighed before pulling her into an embrace as well, feeling a swell of gratitude for her honesty and respect for his decision to want to be apart of his father's life. He didn't want to be that kid with the dad that just destroys a bunch of shit, and to see that he had at least some ounce of support meant much to him.

"Thank you," he said into her hair, releasing the girl when he remembered that they were supposed to be getting ready for training. "I'll talk to Charles about it later but first we need to get ready."

They separated, Allie jumping up to stand upon their bed, hands reaching for the ceiling. "I'm going to destroy you," she told him matter of factly in a sing song voice. The boy just chuckled, throwing his covers off of his legs.

"You already did last night." She made a face at his reply.

"Oh shut up!"

Half an hour later…

"How does it feel?" Hank asked, looking at Allie as she assessed her brand new uniform with a satisfied stare. It fit her perfectly and was much more comfortable on her figure than what Peter had made them seem. Although her opinion would probably change after a couple hours of hard labor. But in that moment, it was one of the best things that anyone had ever made her.

"It's awesome," she told him, hands smoothing over her stomach area where the padding on the uniform was dense. If only she was equipped with something like it within the facility where all the testing took place. Allie could've used the aid against ongoing blows to her abdomen, which always turned up being a pain in the ass from time to time. "Yeah, thank you so much." She shook her head, knocking any thought of Stryker from her mind. Hank smiled at her through the wall mirror's reflection.

"Anytime, better get going soon. I think Raven is expecting you," he informed the blonde. She nodded with pursed lips, patting Hank on the shoulder as she fled the lab. Excitement bubbled within her as she fought to hide away her smile. Allie was beyond elated to finally get to training, to gain a purpose. Even though she never really mentioned it to anyone- Peter even, she felt as if joining the X-Men was a way to work against Stryker. Or as a matter of fact, anyone who stood with him. From Trask to Anti-Mutant activists. Something about following a routine of nothing but hard work for the better of the world meant something to her.

Maybe it was cheesy or a bit overtly heroic sounding, but Allie didn't care. She was proud to finally be a part of the team. It was like gaining back her worth after such a long time bowing down to people who wished nothing but malice unto her.

Her thoughts seemed to bring Allie right to the metallic and shiny doors of the training room in the basement, it's entrance appearing intimidating as it opened. As the splitting metals moved apart, the blonde tentatively walked in, nearly laughing at the sight of Peter standing in the room waiting for her, Raven right by his side. Upon approaching the pair, who were caught in a hushed conversation about something, Peter turned.

"Oh hey," he said, immediately ending the words the he was in the middle of sharing with the Mystique.

"What were you two talking about?" Allie asked casually with a light laugh, moving towards Peter to lean into his side. The fast mutant only chuckled, nodding towards Raven knowingly.

"Erik," he said simply.

The girl nodded, looking at the woman in an attempts to see through her expression as to what she thought of Erik being Peter's father. Though she was a little too hard to read, appearing indifferent to the situation. "Ah," was all Allie said.

"Right," Mystique spoke up, turning around momentarily, as if checking to see if anyone was meeting them. Seeing the empty room behind her, she turned back around to speak with the couple once more. "Well, we might as well get started, Angel can join in when he decides to stop being late." Then she strutted out into the center of the massive room, stepping up on a matted area made specifically for hand to hand combat. Turning the woman beckoned them to her location.

Allie shrugged and looked briefly to Peter, who followed her out towards where the Mystique stood. As they approached the woman crossed her arms, yellow eyes narrowed and awaiting impression. "For now, I'd like you both to show me what you know about fighting… without using your mutations."

Alright. Allie nodded to herself and readied in a defensive stance, watching as Peter did the same. Though his expression held an immediate doubt, influencing the girl to reach out and feel for what was bothering him. Instantly she was met with the image of the boy hitting her hard in the face, a wave of fear washing over her at the thought. He was scared to fight her- to hurt her.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I heal quick," Allie told the mutant, making him sigh as he realized what she was talking about.

"Yeah," he said, "but that won't stop the pain of my fist saying hi to your jaw." It was clear that Peter was very against having to fight Allie in such a way, but Raven shook her head.

"You need to," she told him, taking a step off the mat while bringing a stopwatch out from her pocket. The blue mutant held it up to her face for a moment to give the pair a calculating gaze before pushing down on it's start. "Three minutes."

Allie turned back to look at Peter, feeling her arms and legs lose their stiffness and become more fluid as she anticipated his first moves. Though the boy only took a step forward, his arms lying a little limp in a defying way. The blonde mentally rolled her eyes and dove ahead quickly, turning her body so that when she flung her leg out, her foot would hook behind Peter's left knee. When it met the place she'd been aiming for, the girl pulled roughly and he fell flat to the floor with a muted thud due to the mat.

"Shit man," Peter muttered, moving quickly back onto his feet. It was funny to Allie to see him move so humanly slow, especially during a fight where in any other circumstance he'd be speeding around.

"Too slow?" Allie said with a smirk, taunting the boy as she circled around him like an animal stalking it's prey. Peter just mumbled something incoherent and narrowed his eyes down onto the girl, movements seeming to be brought on in a more focused manner. She knew in that moment that she'd finally egged him onto being a bit more aggressive, though how far he'd delve into it, she didn't know.

Peter smiled dangerously, "you're going to regret that." His competitor laughed.

"C'mon then," Allie grinned, their forms still circling around as Raven observed their lithe movements. The fast mutant struck suddenly out of his position, reaching down to grab the blonde by her knee, pulling so her balance was thrown instantly off. As soon as she fell onto the mat, the boy pinned her with his hand enveloping her wrists and the other pushing down on her hip. Allie groaned, mind scattering for a quick way to undo herself from the other mutant.

About to try and shimmy her way from his grip, Allie began leaning towards her right side where Peter's hand was beginning to add more and more pressure on her hip before Raven stopped the timer.

"That's time," she called, stepping up onto the mat with them. Peter lifted himself up off Allie, standing to hold out his hand for her in a fair gesture. The girl smiled and took it gracefully, stepping up easily. She was a little hyped by the short fight, bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking readily at Raven, who just raised her brows at the couple. "You did… good." Allie couldn't tell if that answer was surprise that they were actually good or if it was a sarcastic statement.

"There's a lot that we need to work on, I'll say that," the teacher rushed in, glancing at the clock on the other side of the room. They had plenty of time to go over some basic drills, that way the next day of training would come with a little more substance to work with. The only problem was that Angel was nowhere to be seen and he was definitely due to come in for practice. Unless Hank gave him some sort of clearance, Raven was sure he was skipping the lesson.

She was hesitant to start the couple on their introduction to defense tactics if Angel was going to be behind while they worked ahead, though at the same time she'd hate to waste an entire session on just a three minute scuffle.

"Agh," the blue mutant groaned unusually, stepping from her typically authoritative and cool nature. Allie raised a brow at the action.

"What's up?" She asked. Raven rolled her eyes and turned back towards them.

"I don't think Angel is showing up for this, so I'm going to let you both off the hook for today while I find him- maybe kick his ass," the mutant declared, waving the two off as she walked towards the exit. Allie and Peter stood there for a moment, coming to shrug and bid farewell to the Mystique.

"Right, see you tomorrow," Peter called, wrapping an arm around Allie's shoulders. She leaned into him, jumped when Raven shut the door so hard that it clapped loudly throughout the room. The gray haired mutant let out a sigh, chuckling thereafter. "He is gonna die."

"Yeah, Raven scares me sometimes," Allie confessed, nodding. She could only pray that Angel had a rather blessed beating after not showing up for training.

"Agreed, so let's not show up late. Right?"

"Right."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty- Two

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hey guys, I hope you've been enjoying the story so far! There's lot's more to come and I'm excited to share it all with you. On another note, I have a stockpile of one-shots for Past Nightmares that happen between the chapters and if you guys are interested I can post them at some point. They give a couple new point of views and I had a lot of fun writing them up, so if you want to see them just let me know!_

"So how do you think she did it?"

"She probably strangled him… but in some sort of complicated gymnast way." Peter answered, thinking of how Raven could have possibly penalized Angel for not showing up to training.

"Yeah, that's probably what happened," Allie sighed, looking down at the papers scattered on top of their made bed, each listing a variety of classes that were offered for the students. It made her feel awkward, being a twenty six year old woman, taking the classes that she had missed out on when she was still going to high school. That meant that she needed to finish literature studies, calculus and then perhaps take a mutant history class of some sorts. Though she also wanted to take a psychology class, so maybe she'd skip out on the calculus.

Sure she liked math and all, but she did struggle a little bit taking pre- calculus, and she also didn't really see why she'd need it right then and there anyways.

"What classes did you take in high school?" The girl questioned the other who laid on the bed, flipping through a book. She continued looking about the papers, the sounds of all the pages moving in the room being the only thing occupying the conversation. Peter was silent for a few moments, trying to remember past years where life was so simple; where he just went to school, did kid things and didn't really worry about anything bigger than him. And then came the day he was asked to the Pentagon by Logan, Hank and Charles.

But he didn't regret a thing, because that's where he got tangled up with Allie in that whole mess. Though sometimes he wished that it could've happened another way, knowing that just maybe if they'd met in a less dangerous environment, the girl wouldn't have been captured and sentenced to ten years of torture. Just maybe Peter wouldn't have joined stupid track and wouldn't have messed up. Just maybe Allie's mom would be okay and just maybe her house would still be there and they would have been together as normal as any mutant family could get.

Though, would Trask have died? If so, then whatever Allie had seen that day in the front lawn of the demolished White House would be their reality. Who knows what the length of ten years would've done differently if Raven had not been persuaded to take a different route for the better of the entire mutant race. It was scary to think about, but still relieving by knowing that it wasn't going to turn out that way. He hoped, at least.

"I didn't really do much in high school, opted to put study halls in for my electives," he said with a drowsy tone, feeling a little unaccomplished with his school career. "But I was placed in advanced math in middle school. Like when I was in fifth grade, I went over to the middle school to take the sixth grade math." Allie turned and gave Peter an impressed smile, having not realized that about him. It made his stomach flutter a little bit, to see her reaction as proud instead of disappointed, like the ones he had gotten in college.

"That's amazing, you didn't do that through high school?" She questioned, turning around to look at him fully. He just shrugged with a frown, setting his book down on his chest.

"No, I dropped out of the program. There was this kid that kept bullying me," he supplied with a roll of his eyes. The blonde scrunched up her nose, surprised that her boyfriend would drop out of something that he had to of loved in favor of getting away from a bully. That just didn't sound like him. He literally fought Apocalypse and received a broken leg from it; she highly doubted that some kid would stand in his way.

"That bad that you left?" He nodded.

"I wasn't that confident y'know, in school. I was just starting to see my mutation. Made me all nervous and stuff, cause I didn't see other kids speeding around. So I didn't want to be near anyone who took any interest in me and figure me out somehow," then he held his hand up in a 'but wait for it,' gesture. "But, I did beat him up in my sophomore year. That's why I got transferred to your school."

"Oooooooh, what'd he do to make you beat him up?" The story was getting a little more exciting now, having Allie crouched a little as she looked up at the boy with anticipation of the next part. He flicked his brows up in a proud sort of way, crossing his arms as if he were somehow a hero after his successful fight.

"He called my mom a whore because she went out on a date with his uncle. So I had my lunch tray, right," Peter then sat up, motioning exactly what he did to the kid, book tumbling off his chest and into their bedsheets. "I swing it up, my soup spilling over my head, chocolate milk going everywhere, and I bring it down- hard- onto his face. Then I throw the tray down, get on top of him and whisper in his ear, 'call my mom a whore one more time and I'll get my spoon and shove it so far down your throat that only your mom's dick will be able to get it out. Then the principal came and pulled me off." Allie was crying by the end, surprised by the threat that he gave the childhood bully.

"That- I've never… I've never heard something more beautiful," she exclaimed, falling down onto the bed, hand in front of her mouth as she tried to stifle her giggles. Peter began laughing too, rubbing his eyes as he set his book on their dresser.

"I don't know what made me say that, but, I'm glad I did."

"As am I," the girl sighed, finally coming down to a calm state. A thought stuck her as their conversation ended. "Do you think we should go figure out why Angel skipped practice?" She asked, not knowing if they should be involved or not, considering it might be a personal reason or something. But she did consider themselves to be one of the closer people to Angel when you take into thought that he did in fact buy them beers and plan that entire night. So Allie figured that maybe it would be good to just talk to him about it, if there was something wrong that he didn't show up. Or he was just being a dick and blew them off. They could talk about that too.

"Yeah, sure. We don't have much going on today, let's go." They both stumbled off the bed, walking towards the door and entering the hallway. There seemed to be a good buzz that day, a plethora of students roaming the halls, all conversing and playing with each other. Allie couldn't help but smile at the scene, remembering how she felt when taking Angel on his 'first day tour,' when looking at the relationship they all had together. It was like they were one big family.

"Hey, this one?" Peter asked the girl from ahead, pointing at a door in the hallway. Allie nodded, confirming that it was Kurt and Angel's shared room. The gray haired boy promptly opened the door, stepping inside while the blonde trailed in the back. She couldn't see anything past Peter, as he was blocking her view, but she could still hear Raven's voice, loud and authoritative. Though she wasn't scolding anyone, much to her confusion.

"Okay, now what happ-" she must've noticed them walk in, stopping to look over by the door. Allie finally stepped out from behind Peter, being surprised to find not only was Raven in there, but Hank, the professor, Kurt and Angel. Charles was seated in the corner, shadows casting over him as the light couldn't reach far enough towards the wall. There was a stern expression on his face, eerily shaded by the lack of light, but Allie could see through it and feel his anxiety over whatever they spoke of.

She looked to Hank and Kurt, who were clearly not trying to hide their distress. What the hell was going on?

"What's happening?" Peter asked, understanding that there seemed to be something very wrong; wrong enough to gather all of their primary teachers into one room, all sharing a look of worry.

"I saw someone take the gardener," Angel said, making Allie immediately burst with fear.

"What do you mean take?" She asked, eyes wide. The other blonde rubbed his tiredly, taking a second to remove the leather jacket from his shoulders and lay it on the bed.

"I went outside to look for Kurt, didn't want him to be late for training. But I can't remember shit about the layout of the lawn, so I went around back to the gardens, thinkin' maybe that's where he'd gone," Angel sighed, looking over briefly at Kurt, who sat beside him on the bed. The blue mutant's head was just cast down, not looking to anything but the floor. "There were some kids smoking back there, but for the most part it was empty. It was the guy- the gardener doing his job, then all of a sudden he fell over. So I started walking over to him to see what was wrong, but then this man came the fuck outta nowhere. Then I hid, because just by lookin' at this guy made me scared. I sat there and watched him pull something small from the guys neck as he was just layin' there, sleeping. Then he picked him up and walked off. I didn't wait around to see where they went, and booked it back here as soon as I could."

Allie didn't hesitate in questioning the story. "This is the guy that shot-" Hank and Charles were nodding before she could even finish her statement, confirming that it was in fact the ex- agent who was apparently kidnapped.

"Okay, we can use Cerebro, right? Before it's too late," she tried.

"It's not repaired yet," Hank informed them sadly.

"By the time we get it repaired we won't be able to reach him," Allie said, knowing that he was probably wearing the same helmet that she had been forced to wear all those years. Everyone in the room looked at her, not quite understanding what she meant.

"What do you mean, why?" Hank asked, stepping away from the far wall that he had been leaning against.

"When I was with Stryker, I- I wore this thing; this helmet, made out of the same material as Erik's. They knew that Charles would be able to reach me if I didn't have it," she explained, putting her head in her hands as she realized that they were already being targeted. Stryker was already at the school. He was already executing his plan.

"We don't know that this is Stryker though," Hank countered. Angel shook his head, looking around at everyone with outstretched arms.

"Who the hell is Stryker?"

Raven sighed, ignoring Angel and instead opting to answer Hank. "I think it is him. Maybe not who directly kidnapped the ex- agent, but gave the order to."

In that moment Allie could've started crying. She wasn't prepared for something like this to happen, for one of the darkest points in her life to be resurfaced so soon and so suddenly. Her anger and sadness was enveloped in dread. Fear was all that controlled her.

Seeming to notice Allie's panic, Peter wrapped his arm around the girl protectively, his stomach sinking low as he thought about what this could possibly be doing to her. And even furthermore, what it meant to the safety of their school. If Stryker was able to easily kidnap one of the staff without anyone but Angel seeing, then he could take anyone he wanted at any given time. Especially a student or even one of them.

"We need to be careful," Charles stated, speaking for the first time. He was staring off at the wall opposite to him, chin rested heavily in his fingers as he tried to make a plan concerning the safety of the students. "We need to call an assembly and make it very clear to the kids that they mustn't go outside- especially not alone. We cannot risk for anyone to be in danger." Everyone nodded, Raven straightening slightly as she moved to walk out of the room, presumably to do exactly what the professor had just explained.

"I'll do that now," she said, exiting the through the door. It was quiet.

'Don't worry,' the professor said within Allie's head, seeing a swirl of memories from the facility attack her mind. It pained him to know that through the series of events, it would be affecting her because of her past encounters. 'We will end this. End him.' The girl nodded along with his words, seeing no other solution better than what he'd described. Stryker, dead. It brought her a morbid joy to think about.

"We are going to go, if anything happens or comes up, let us know," Peter said, seeing as Allie was in some kind of trance from the news. He couldn't blame her, but he'd rather have them in the safety of their own room while she thought about everything instead of being in the presence of everyone. All of them but the professor waved farewell as the couple moved from the room and into the hallway.

When they made it back into their room, Allie went straight to the windows, closing them off from the summer breeze and locking them up immediately. She then closed the blinds and then fell back onto their bed. She couldn't stop it when tears started streaking down her face, even though she really wanted to pull through their predicament with strength. It was just really fucking hard when something that she thought that she'd be done with jumps right back out and starts up again.

Especially when it was pure terror.

Peter sighed, coming around to her side of the bed, sitting and pulling Allie towards him. "Shh," he said, rubbing her back as she broke down more, clutching onto him like a child. "It's going to be okay. Nothing is going to hurt you."

"I- I… can't s-stay here," Allie choked out, beginning to shake as she made up images that bore ideas of her recapture, of Peter being taken. Them being apart. She couldn't do it. "Please." Peter of course would drive to the ends of the earth for Allie. If she wanted to leave, he'd take her anywhere. But they had responsibility with the school, if help was needed to keep the kids there safe, they would need to keep that in mind. If the thought of leaving still stood after the blonde was able to pull herself together, then they could go and talk to the professor.

"Where do you wanna go?" Peter decided to ask instead of throwing in the fact that maybe it wouldn't be the best idea to bail on the school.

A couple sniffles later: "Home." The boy nodded, expecting the answer.

"I do too," he replied.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty- Three

"The reason that I've gathered you all here today is because there has been… an incident. Someone working for us has been kidnapped." A flurry of whispers erupted from the crowd of students, some emitting gasps and others giving just blank and confused stares. Raven waited a moment, scanning through everyone and making eye contact with both Scott and Jean as she thought of what else to say. Scott saw her glance before standing a little straighter, hearing the room get progressively louder.

"Hey! Hey! Everyone get quiet!" He called, watching as the mass group of students collectively hushed until Raven could speak further. She sighed, rubbing along her ridged blue skin in contemplation, peculiar to her typical manner. The woman didn't know how much detail she should supply the kids with, not wanting them to live in fear but to at least understand how serious they were being. She was pretty sure they would understand without the finer print, but perhaps it would be safe to give them some hint as to who they were dealing with.

"We are thinking that who we're dealing with…" she took deep breath. "... are a part of one of Trask's side projects." Again, everyone turned to one another and began speaking. This time Raven called out, understanding their fear and confusion. "I know this is a lot and we are doing everything we can to figure this out." The students in the lobby fell back to silence once more.

"There are going to be some rules now. No going outside. It's not safe," no one argued as she continued on. "Everyone keep your windows locked, keep your blinds closed. And if you feel you are in danger, do not hesitate to use your powers." There were some students nodding along with the set of rules that needed to be followed, a couple muttering joking 'amens,' to the last statement. Some chuckles ensued the comments, making the teacher become stern.

"This is serious, your safety is our top priority here, and part of making sure that you are clear from danger is your cooperation. You all must listen to us and look out for each other," the Mystique declared, watching as everyone quietly watched her with wide eyes. There was a small part of her that wanted to melt at the sight of each of their awestruck faces. She'd never seen so many mutants- kids look up to her, seeking her for their safety. It made Raven feel like a mother almost, like it was her duty to make sure that each and every one of the kids was out of harm's way. But out of pure instinct, not Charles' orders.

"Alright, you may return to your rooms. Remember to close your blinds, lock your windows. Don't be out late in the night guys. We will be checking on everyone before bed until this is sorted out." Everyone began clearing out of the main lobby, heading off in different directions, the majority heading straight to their bedrooms, seeming to do exactly as instructed and as soon as possible. Others went to the kitchen and recreational area.

From amongst the dispersing crowd, Jean and Scott stayed, zig zagging through the students to approach Raven with worry filled eyes. Well, the woman could only guess Scott's were fearful through the tinted glasses.

"What happened exactly?" Jean asked, already receiving chopped images of their teachers and Angel conversing in a room together, Allie and Peter showing up in the middle as she skimmed the woman's mind. The last thing she saw before taking a step out was Allie's face, horror stricken as she heard whatever was explained to her. It made the redhead's hairs stand on end.

The blue mutant slouched slightly, finally being able to let loose for a second and speak with one of her closer friends. "The gardener was kidnapped, and Angel saw the entire thing. I guess before the man had been working for the same people who took Allie. The same man who worked with Trask. For whatever reason Charles erased his memory and turned him into a maintenance guy and let him work here. But obviously now it's significant that he's been kidnapped because of his previous… job." Both of the mutants were nodding along, listening to the retelling with concern. It really was much more complicated than what they thought.

Raven shook her head absent mindedly. "I don't think Allie is taking this really well. I usually wouldn't really say anything like this, but I think that we should just keep an eye on her," the woman suggested, remembering the blonde's erratic behavior as she listened to Angel's story. Of course Raven could understand why, and she was glad that Peter was by her side to make sure things were okay, but she was also a little wary for Allie's overall stress.

The woman had seen… things in Allie's vision from the White House, that day. Things that she felt she wasn't supposed to see. There were images of her in these testing chambers, men in lab coats overlooking her paralyzed body as they tortured her quite literally to death. She knew somehow that the scene depicted their taking of her DNA, and why it was being taken- how it would be used. Knowing that it was just a taste of what a small fraction of ten years of being with Stryker would be, Raven just felt sympathetic towards Allie. She really hoped that she could find strength in knowing that she wasn't alone now; the girl was surrounded in one big family that had only the best intentions for her.

"I guess you're right," Scott said, nodding a little sadly. "We should probably stop by, see how her and Peter are doing. We haven't talked with them in a bit," he then told Jean, looking to Raven to see her approving expression. The redhead shrugged in compliance, turning to peer down the hallway that would lead to their room.

"Yeah, I- uh, guess we will see you soon," she told Raven, lips pursed. The blue mutant gave a close lipped smile, crossing her arms.

"Alright, thank you for checking up on her. I know she probably doesn't want many people to know, but we are all that she has left," the blue woman said sympathetically, laying a hand absent mindedly on her heart. Jean just nodded and took Scott by the arm, leading them down the hallway towards the couple's room. Raven turned away, heading to her own quarters as the lobby was emptied with the mutant's exit.

As Jean and Scott plodded down the corridor, they soon found themselves stopping to approach the door of Peter and Allie. Stepping forward, the redhead knocked lightly, jumping when the door swung immediately open by the fast mutant. Peter just smiled at the couple with surprise.

"Hey guys," he said cheerily, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. "What's up?" The couple looked at each other briefly, deciding who would do the talking. After a moment of a silent duel, Jean sighed, looking promptly at Peter.

"We just wanted to check up on you guys, with the whole incident," then the girl said quietly, "I'm sure it's been tough on Allie." Peter sighed, slumping a little as he nodded, glancing over his shoulder into the room where Allie must've been. Jean reached out and felt the girl's presence, recognizing her activity as being pretty still. Seemed as though the blonde was asleep early, considering it was only six thirty in the evening.

"Yeah," Peter sighed, swinging back to look down at the couple's shoes. His demeanor instantly changed, happy mask falling to show what was really underneath. It surprised both Jean and Scott a little, as it wasn't often that they saw Peter in a different light than that of his regular go lucky self. And it was there that they were able to experience how much stress they must've been under, especially if it was affecting the gray haired mutant so much. "She's… not taking it well. Which, I can't blame her, y'know."

The mutants nodded together. "Of course, I'd be the same way," Jean agreed. "Just, if she- or you- ever need anything, to talk, whatever, we are here for you guys." The redhead figured it was the nicest thing she could say to assure the other couple that they would always be open to helping out, in any possible way.

Something about the offer must've struck Peter in a way, because he appeared to be at loss of words for a few moments, struggling to give his stuttered: "T-thank you," then, "really, thank you so much. That's… just… I don't even know what to say." He really didn't. It was one of the most considerate things that anyone had ever told him, truly. And for Peter, it made him want to stay at the school and give as much to everyone as Jean and Scott were giving to him. He wanted to help.

Jean just laughed and made a face. "Awe, of course Peter," then she reached in with outstretched arms, giving him a hug. He wrapped one arm around her, winking at Scott from over the mutant's shoulder. The boy just scoffed jokingly, shoving his hand out to pull Jean away. She stumbled back, looking confusedly at Scott who stepped forward and gave Peter a massive 'bro' hug.

"I need some love from my boy too," he said pointedly to Jean, taking Peter's arms and forcibly putting them around his waist. The fast mutant just chuckled and squeezed sensually, rubbing his hand slowly up and down the other's back. Scott made a face at feeling the hand glide across his varsity jacket, pulling away slightly to look at the gray haired boy with confusion. "You trying to flirt with me?" He asked, trying not to smile.

Casually, Peter said, "of course, you're like, super cute." From behind them Jean laughed, prodding Scott in the side with her elbow.

"You should totally go for it," she whisper yelled, left hand shielding the side of her mouth so it would be harder for Peter to hear. He could only break character and laugh at the small moment, leaning back against the door as the other mutant stepped away.

Scott sighed, looking up with sincerity at Peter. "But really man, if you need anything, let us know." Jean nodded approvingly at him, watching as the fast mutant seemed to be a little caught up again with the kind words.

"Thank you. Seriously," the gray haired boy said, brows raised in a surprised appreciation of the couple's actions. "Same goes to you guys. Ever need help, we will totally be there." Scott and Jean both smiled in adoration at their friend, the redhead sighing as she moved down the hallway a little bit.

"We know you guys are, thank you. See you around then," she said, leading Scott down the corridor, tossing a hand back over her shoulder to wave at Peter, who smiled and did the same. He stood there yet, leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his pocket, just thinking over everything that he found himself invested in. Peter had… a lot.

He had Allie, he had his mom, his sister, his friends, the school and hopefully- just maybe- he'd have his dad. There was just so much that the boy had in his life to be thankful for, things that he needed to work to keep and protect. And he would go to the ends of the earth to do just that.

That thought is what led him back into the bedroom, pulling Peter towards the bed where Allie slept, the pillows and covers around her like a shield, fending off the world around her as she was swept away into her dreams. He crawled over the sheets to join her, coming up to wrap his arms around the girl's shoulders, giving her a small kiss on the forehead before burying himself in her neck. Peter was glad that he was what made her feel safe, because she was what made him feel grounded. What made him feel like he could do anything.

He loved her so much. So, so much.

The next morning…

Peter was up bright and early, sitting up from his spot to stretch out his stiff limbs. From beside him, Allie still slept, much to his displeasure. She'd fallen asleep at six the day before, and she was still going strong in a deep slumber. It made him worry a little, as he didn't think that was very normal- at least for people who actually required sleep. He couldn't really say much, considering Peter didn't really feel true exhaustion much between his stamina and controlled resting patterns. But living with his mom showed him that maybe eight hours of sleep was pretty decent.

"Ugh," he groaned out loud, turning towards Allie with contemplation. He didn't want to wake her up and put her in a bad mood if she really needed that much sleep, but he also didn't want Allie to be dead awake for the next four weeks after getting about sixteen hours of sleep. That's double what Peter figured was normal for regular people.

Sighing, he reached over and prodded the girl. "Allie, Allie." It wasn't much longer and the blonde moaned, cracking open one eye to look at Peter. It was a little red from her crying, much to his surprise. It made the boy frown a little, remembering how much she'd been affected by the whole incident that had occurred the day before. "Hey," he said quietly, combing back some of her hair so it wasn't tangled over her face. The blonde just smiled briefly in appreciation, eye closing once more as she realized her body was still a little tired.

"Hey," she whispered back, nuzzling into the pillow. Peter raised a brow.

"You still tired?" He asked. She nodded and flipped over on her right side, back facing Peter. "You've been sleeping for a while, y'know." Again, she nodded.

"Catching up on ten years," was all she said.

"Okay." Peter pushed the covers off of him, standing to walk around to Allie's side of the bed where their dresser was located. As he opened up the top drawer and grabbed some clothing, he looked down to her. "I'm going to be heading out, you alright here?" He asked.

"Yeah," Allie said, opening a single dark eye once more. "Where to?" Peter closed the drawer, moving a little ways down to sit on the edge of the bed, right beside Allie's feet. He began changing out of his night clothes, throwing on the typical t-shirt and jeans outfit.

"Not far, just Charles. I'm going to talk to him about d- Erik," he said, awkwardly attempting to not call the metal manipulating man 'dad.' Although that's exactly what the mutant was, Peter wasn't sure if he should be giving out the title so easily. He was excited to finally confess the secret to him, but it was scary yet for the fact of who he was. His dad was Magneto. And Magneto was not… dad material. At least Peter didn't think so, judging by his dad's past actions and rather recent ones. Though there was still a sense of pride within the boy due to knowing that Erik had in fact chosen them over Apocalypse. So maybe there was a shift in his character that leant towards the good side of things.

"Okay," she said, eyes closed and sliding the covers up to her chin. "Hopefully it works out." Peter smiled at her encouraging words, even though they were muttered almost miserably through her sleepy haze. He knew that she was genuinely happy for him to be taking a big step forward in his father's direction.

"Thanks, I'll be back soon," he promised, slipping his sneakers on and leaning to give the girl a kiss on the head, her blonde hair tickling the boy's nose and making him jerk away with a light laugh. Allie didn't seem to notice, and just gave a 'mhm' while seemingly falling back to sleep. Peter smiled at her lying there for a moment before standing and heading out to seek the professor. Usually he didn't have any classes until later in the afternoon, so the man should be free to speak.

Peter hoped that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to see his dad once again; and finally reveal that he was his son.

Ten minutes later…

"Has there been any news with the kidnapping?" Peter asked Charles, starting off their conversation. The telepath shook his head with a sigh, hating how they weren't unable to uncover much more than the clear fact that the ex- agent was taken. There were no clues, Hank wasn't finished with Cerebro yet, Raven didn't have any exterior knowledge on where bases could be, and everyone else was struggling to stay as safe as possible. It was just a mess that he could almost predict as being unsolved for a little while, at least until something- God forbid- bad happened once more.

"I'm afraid not, though we should be able to have Cerebro up and running within a matter of a couple days. So that'll likely help to clear at least something up," the man said at an attempt of positivity, though his voice bore no enthusiasm. Peter realistically recited the information that Allie had described to them back in Angel and Kurt's room when hearing about the kidnapping for the first time.

"If this helmet is real, then maybe that won't work," Peter commented, jutting an unwanted negativity into the conversation. Charles nodded after a moment of staring at the boy, wishing he could've just been left alone with his optimistic thoughts for at least a little while.

"Yes," the professor said curtly. "I'm sure you're here for more than our stumped investigation." He wanted to move away from the stressful topic and onto whatever was on Peter's mind, for he could see that there was something else being contemplated in the his head. Of what matter, Charles was unsure.

The gray haired boy smiled. "Yeah, Erik is my dad."

Oh.

Charles had not been expecting that. Not one bit- surprisingly for a telepath. "When did you find this out?" He decided to ask.

"A little while ago, it was the reason I came here in the first place. When the entire mansion, was like, blown up. I was looking to find him and then got all snatched up by that Stryker guy and flown right to Erik afterwards," then the boy moved uncomfortably to scratch the back of his head. "I was going to try to tell him when I was with Raven… but I just couldn't. I couldn't get the words out." Charles nodded in understanding of the boy's struggle, recognizing that his fear could've been out of the sheer fact that he didn't know if Erik was going to aid in the slavery of humankind or switch sides for the better. The professor knew that if it were himself in Peter's shoes, he would've remained silent to the secret as well.

"That's understandable. What is it that you wish for me to help you with?" The telepath asked, wanting to further uncover the point for the boy's confession.

"Well, I was wondering if you could have him come back here. Or have us two meet or something," Peter offered the idea, looking awkwardly around the office. The request felt a little strange for him, and he almost hoped for a split second that Charles would just say 'no,' then, 'it's too dangerous.' Though it was just his fear rising up once more, making Peter feel that talking to his father about anything in general was just a bad idea.

"Are you sure you want to tell him?" Charles asked, making the boy's confidence shatter. Did he really want to tell him? What good was it to try and change the man that was going to probably relapse back into his psychotic ways that would only punish those who weren't meant to be hurt. He was a man that was going to help Apocalypse not one month ago; the mutant that intended to enslave the human race. And on top of all that, he almost hurt Allie back at the White House. Though he didn't know about their friendship at the time, it still burned inside Peter's head that Erik had almost killed her and all of their friends.

And that didn't sit well with him, but it didn't change the fact that Erik was his dad, and he was his son. The real question there was: should it be announced that it was so?

Peter really didn't have a clue. "I- I don't know." The professor hadn't meant to falter the boy's drive to tell his father about their predicament, but he really just had the best intentions for Peter. Knowing the kind of man Erik was (unpredictable) Charles wasn't sure how well things would blow over if he found out about him. Sure Erik obviously had some sort of compassion, as Charles had been able to see through recent memory of the mutant's late wife and child, but he was still unsure if that would persuade him to take his son seriously and not brush off the finding as if it were a no longer needed item due to arriving late.

That was the last thing that Charles wished to happen, and he hoped that if Peter wanted something good to come from it, it wouldn't turn out as the professor was imagining. So maybe instead of calling upon Erik for the specific reason that their conversation was implying at the moment, Charles would just ask for him to help sort out their issue with the kidnapping. This would not only help solve the mystery, but also give Peter some time throughout Erik's stay to figure out what he wanted to do.

"Look, I'll ask for Erik to come here and help with our kidnapping case, and in that time you can decide whether or not you want to tell him. Does that sound well enough?" The telepath questioned, already knowing the answer when a mixture of relief and gratitude swept out from the boy's mind in strong waves. Peter nodded, leaning forward in his seat.

"Yeah that's perfect. So will we have to wait for Cerebro?" He asked, trying to determine how much time he had to ponder his decision over, maybe talk to Allie then too.

"Cerebro won't be necessary, I know how to track Erik," Charles replied with ease. Peter just smiled nervously at how suddenly his father would be tossed into the school.

"Right, great, thank you so much," the fast mutant said rather quickly, standing to straighten out his t-shirt. Clearly, he would have a lot of thinking to do if Erik decided to come as soon as possible to help out.

"Of course Peter, how's Allie fairing?" The telepath questioned, remembering the feelings of stress and anxiety entering him when Allie heard of the kidnapping. He'd almost been overpowered by the fear that the girl had been sending off, feeling like the world was crashing down as he sat in the corner. The professor had to blockade his mind from everyone else's emotions in the room, especially her's. So he could only hope that within the day or so that had passed she'd been able to recover slightly.

Peter just shrugged, not really knowing the answer. All he knew was that she had cried. A lot. But he wasn't convinced that it had lessened her fear. "I'm not really sure. But I think she feels safe. Or at least safer."

"Good, I intend to keep you kids as clear from danger as I possibly can," the professor declared, arms coming to rest on top of his desk, hands clasped together in his signature way. "I hope that she feels more at ease with time. We will sort this out. Trust me."

"Alright, good to hear. Take care," Peter waved, opening up the tall oak doors that led out to the hallway. Charles just waved back, watching as the mutant disappeared quickly, door shutting with a soft thud. Alone then, the professor leant forward over his desk, placing his index and middle finger over his temple, eyes closing in concentration.

Almost instantly, Charles found himself within the familiar mind of Erik Lehnsherr.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty- Four

The fear. The rage. The helplessness.

It controlled her when she was with him. When she was in that place.

"Happy five years Allie," he had said, leering grin coming into her strained view as she laid there, strapped to the cold testing table. Her wrists and ankles stung with leather burns, head feeling tight and compressed even though the helmet was free from her. Maybe it was just adrenaline, waiting to be released on some escape. But there wasn't going to be any tricks. She was stuck with no release. "And here's to many more." Then he leant over her further, placing his two hands on either side of her arms, thumb accidentally brushing against her exposed skin.

Allie jumped lightly at the contact, trying her best to conceal the way a dread physically filled her whole being. Stryker had an eye for fear though, spotting it immediately. "Don't worry," he cooed. "We will keep on having fun." He moved from the table then, head no longer blocking out the bright operating light from above. The blonde squinted through the rays, disliking how she couldn't see what was coming, nor could she move her neck due to the confines.

Dr. Tyion called out above. "Three, Two…" suddenly, a small crane holding a syringe came into Allie's view, lowering with haste onto her body. "One," he said right as the long needle plunged into her chest.

Allie shot up in bed, a sheen of sweat laid over her body as she tore the covers off of her. She looked to her left, seeing Peter fast asleep.

Good, she thought, she hadn't been screaming at least. He always woke up for the screaming.

It had been a long time since Allie had received a dream about the institute. Or much rather a memory, as the nightmares weren't just conjured from nothing. She remembered the day that Stryker had decided to give her a five year gift, bringing Allie in for an experiment that would be more painful than needed. Whenever the robotic movement of the crane came into view, there was no slow burn wait for the needle to enter her body; it just ripped through the mechanical whirls and sounds of vacant droning, only to be stabbed through her quickly, harshly.

Sometimes the image of the syringe coming from the side of her peripheral entered Allie's mind at the strangest of moments, making her jump and have to take a moment to calm down, to erase the thought from her mind. Though, she would pleasantly admit, it hadn't happened in a long time. Not until then.

Sighing, the blonde looked over past Peter to his side of the bed, peering at the digital clock that sit on his end table. 3:36 a.m. of all times, though did make a little sense considering she'd fallen asleep rather early.

"Damn," Allie said suddenly when her stomach reacted loudly to not having been fed for quite a few hours, completely destroying the peaceful quiet that had enveloped them. She peered down at Peter again, seeing his sleeping form snore softly, tangled in the covers as even in his sleep, he couldn't stop moving. The little thought made her chuckle out loud as she crawled out of bed, heading towards the door. As the girl entered the hallway, she immediately felt an eerie vibe based on the stillness of the school. There were no students, no conversing or music and most of all, no one awake. All except her.

Usually even when students were few in numbers due to being in class, Allie could still feel them as she traveled around here and there. Different fears popped out at her, like wanting to impress the teacher, not wanting to fail, or fear that their cram sessions wouldn't cut it out for the tests. Everything was always in full swing when they were awake, thoughts brambling on and on about needless things to worry about. But when everyone was asleep, things became quiet.

Granted, Allie could still slip into dreams and turn them to nightmares, or watch bad dreams as they were already going on, though it took close proximity and concentration to do so. However, it could be a ability for Allie to practice on, so then she could tap into dreams and such without taking up too much of her energy. Typically when entering the fabricated worlds, whatever affects were done unto the victim always had some sort of effect back on Allie.

Like if someone drowned under her jurisdiction, then she would start to feel light headed and out of breath. Though she wouldn't ever pass out from being suffocated to death, only feel an echo of whatever was going on inside the mind.

Thinking about the ability, Allie wandered towards the kitchen while aimlessly zig zagging through a maze that wasn't there. She tried to feel out for anyone who might have been awake at that odd hour as well, though came up empty when everyone appeared to be swept away into their dreams. Allie smiled, not really feeling the impending energy of any nightmares amongst them, making the girl happy.

Interrupting her tired and lazily joyful thoughts, Allie heard the sound of a crackly voice in the distance as she pulled closer to the kitchen and dining room. Curiously, she tiptoed towards the living room, which was right in between the two other rooms and was where the sound seemed to be originating from. As she neared silently, the voice became more audible, allowing for the blonde to eavesdrop in on whatever television or radio was turned on.

"Wednesday. Noon. There will be fifteen thousand of us. If you are hearing this now, there should be twenty thousand, if you join," the voice spoke out, hushed sounding, as if they were speaking in secret. But broadcasting it over the radio? Whatever the supposed man spoke of couldn't have been that much of a secret, considering the fact.

Wanting to know who on earth was listening to the message so late into the night, Allie creeped forward on her toes, peering around the archway and into the living room. Just so slightly rounded over the corner, she could see a mix of fluorescent blue and red; Raven. What could she be doing?

Allie kept leaning out into the room, hoping to get a better look at the scene before her. But right as she began moving forward, a loud creak escaped the floorboard beneath her foot. The blonde gasped, looked down at her toes as if accusing them for her finding out, before sharply peering up into the yellow eyes of Raven. The other mutant made a surprised face, but didn't say anything to express it further. Instead she let out a long breath and reached over to the radio, turning the volume back up. The crackly message came to life once more, ordering a series of commands.

"Bring signs, not weapons. Don't come with the intent to hurt. That's not what this is. We need to remain peaceful. If you do arrive with intent to do anything more, you will be our enemy." The words both confused and scared Allie. What was happening? "We will see you there." Then the broadcast turned to white noise until the Mystique shut off the radio, sighing as she did so.

"Do you want to come?" She asked, turned towards the shelf that held the radio yet. Allie stared at the back of her head.

"For what?"

"The protest," she supplied vaguely, rounding to look pointedly at the girl. Allie just stood by the entry way, holding onto the arch frame with tentativeness. She hardly wanted to leave the mansion in fear of being kidnapped by Stryker, why would she want to put herself in a protest?

Choosing not to voice the minor thought, Allie pressed on her confusion. "Protesting what exactly?" Raven moved to sit on the tan couch, patting the spot beside her. Allie shifted from her place, walking over to take the seat that she had been offered.

"Mutants are banned from earning any leadership in the cities," she explained, pointing at the television. "They had announced it on the news yesterday. Too many mutants were turned down from having council positions for it to just be a fair decline." Seriously? It's a chair on the city council for God's sake. What was a mutant going to do with all that power, over throw the entire world government? Make the entire universe cave in on itself?

"That's not fair," Allie said, obviously. "Th-they can't do that." Raven nodded along with the girl's words, remembering how Harry Kranes had come on the news, holding his microphone out towards the governor of the state, trying to get a quote for the station. It seemed like the governor didn't even want to give the announcement, leading Raven to believe that there was either someone higher up giving the ban order, or the councils from below.

If it was the councils, their protest would hit hard. If it was higher up, their protest would need to span far over a theorized twenty thousand people.

"They don't even have an excuse… the declines were starting way before Apocalypse was ever in the equation," the blue mutant stated, hand waving as she spoke. "Every other state has at least one mutant within their branches. Even if it's just a town commission." Raven shook her head disappointedly at the thought of aspiring mutants not even being able to enter politics on even the slightest level. She could only imagine how much it must've hurt them to hear that due to something they couldn't help, they were no longer permitted to make decisions for the state they lived in.

What was next, losing the right to vote? Were they not American citizens?

"That's just not right," Allie said, sinking deeper into the couch, developing an anger for the situation. "We aren't bad. I mean, look at us! We are some of the most diplomatic set of people here. Mutants saved all of mankind from Apocalypse." The blonde sputtered out her thoughts with bitterness, turning to Raven on her last statement. The blue woman cocked her head, assessing Allie with a calculative stare. After a moment, she crossed her arms.

"You sure you don't want to come?"

A few hours later…

"Allie, Allie," a voice said from above the girl. Groggily, she opened one eye to see the blurry image of Peter. He was lying next to her in bed, still wrapped up in the covers and clad in his pajamas. "Hey," he whispered when he saw that she was awake, a small smile gracing his face. If she weren't so tired over the long conversation her and Raven had the night before, Allie would've sat up and gave that little smirk a kiss. But, she was that exhausted and figured the fantasy just wouldn't come true at the moment.

"Hey," the blonde replied almost inaudibly due to her whispering and being buried beneath the covers from her nose down.

"You still tired?" He asked, louder than before. The unnecessary rise in volume made Allie's head hurt a little, the numbed pain behind her eyes flaring up once more. She really should've gotten to bed earlier that morning.

Choosing not to speak and chance the headache worse, Allie just nodded and turned over onto her other side, thinking maybe that she could get more comfortable. Though she felt a little bad, hoping Peter didn't think that she was cutting him off; she just wasn't feeling very good.

"You've been sleeping for a while, y'know," he said. Allie laughed within her mind, knowing she didn't have enough energy to muster a real one. She really hadn't been sleeping for that long. At least if you counted how long she'd been in bed from when her discussion with Raven ended to that very moment. The prior rest Allie had gotten was littered with nightmares and the inability to stay asleep an hour at a time, so it wasn't really that energizing.

Again, Allie nodded in answer to the boy's statement. She contemplated telling him about what she had discovered with Raven from the night before, about the protest that would be taking place two days from then. And… how she decided that she would be joining to further their efforts and hopefully help to make a difference in the fight for mutant rights. It was a great thing to do, Allie figured, but she wasn't sure if Peter would feel alright with her going. Which the problem wasn't that he wouldn't support the movement, it was him not supporting her going. He was protective of Allie, and she knew that he'd do a lot to make sure that he didn't lose her. Especially in the kidnapping crisis they found themselves within.

It scared Allie too, and she really would rather not go out due to the idea, but she knew what fear did. It stumped you from progress, it made you evade the true points of both bravery and freedom. She didn't want to become what she often times toyed around with. So she was going to that protest, and as much as she loved him and valued his opinion, Allie wasn't going to care what Peter said. And that was that.

A part of herself felt upset for the prospect, but the other part of her was fueled with anger. Anger caused by what the governor- or whoever gave the order- had done. And unfortunately the fire burned brighter than her will to be fair and just.

"Catching up on ten years," Allie decided to say, not wishing to bring anything up then, if at all. Maybe something would change her mind and she would cue him in on her plan, but the girl highly doubted it ever happening. She knew Peter and she definitely knew his answer: a big fat no.

The covers shuffled around behind her back. "Okay," was all he said as he sat up, throwing the blanket around so it was no longer on top of him. Allie just stayed quiet, hoping that she'd be able to fall back to sleep, knowing it would be easy just by the way she began to feel heavy behind her eyes. As she concentrated on counting sheep, the blonde could hear Peter coming to her side of the bed, opening their creaky wooden drawers. "I'm going to be heading out, you alright here?"

She had no problem with that. "Yeah," then curiously, single eye open once more, she asked, "where to?" Perhaps he was just going out for training, though Raven had skipped through the lessons due for the other X-Men the day before.

Peter shut the dresser, taking a step down the bed to sit by her feet, on the edge of the mattress. "Not far, just Charles," he said whilst changing his clothing. "I'm going to talk to him about d- Erik." Allie tiredly caught onto how he'd almost sincerely called Erik his dad, though didn't press on it. She really didn't see why he shouldn't, as it was a truth and she figured it was his right to express it that way, no matter what anyone thought. Though maybe it was a more emotional issue dealing with Peter than it was with anyone else. She'd ask him about it later.

"Okay." She closed her eyes once more- hopefully for the last time. Attempting to express her need for rest, Allie prodded the blanket closer to her chin. "Hopefully it works out." The heavy feeling of drowsiness invaded the girl's mind as she tried to sound supportive, almost like a grip of dreams overtook her right then and there.

"Thanks, I'll be back soon," was the last thing the girl heard, and Peter's lips on her temple being the last she felt.

Two days later...

Peter had just been walking around the school a little aimlessly, most of the kids being in class and supplying him with no good dosage of people watching or just plain conversation. Usually he'd be able to strike up some sort of uncomfortable dialogue with just a random kid he'd find interesting, though they either knew him due to the sports ban or from being a part of the X-Men. So, judging by those two very different priorly known associations, the conversations typically went one of two ways.

A really drawn out and awkward 'yeah' or there was the 'yo man what's up?' But eventually they all kinda died out with just really awful talks about the weather or something. One of the only people that Peter could easily strike up a conversation with (that wasn't Allie) was Angel. Which surprised him in some way, because he considered them to be a little different from each other, though perhaps the opposites attract logic could be applied in the situation of their apparent magnetism.

"So, uh, what sorts of music are you into right now?" The blonde had asked Peter while they sat that morning, eating breakfast, after the boy had finished wandering the halls for some fun. Allie had been off somewhere talking with Raven about some unknown thing that Peter figured was about the kidnapping and any possible developments in the case. So with the girl's absence, it was just him and Angel who needed to keep some sort of chat afloat. The mutant was Peter's last effort at making some sort of consistently successful and enjoyable conversation amongst the many students who attended the school; although Angel could technically be held on a different standard than them. But Peter didn't care.

"Well, my tastes are all over the place. But right now I've been digging some of The Clash. They're pretty good," Peter explained, shrugging as he bit into his toast, realizing it was a little darker than what he was used to. The boy really didn't care for burnt flavors that much, remembering times he'd go out to eat with his mom and getting completely charred steaks that she claimed had amazing flavor, though he begged to differ. Maybe the mutation screwed up his taste buds somehow and he just couldn't find anything good about burnt food.

"Ohh, nice one. I've liked them since they first started," Angel exclaimed, flipping an omelet that he was making for himself. "As of right now I've been into Poison. I know they've been out for a while, but I bought a record or two in the past year and just couldn't stop listening." Peter nodded approvingly.

"Yeah they're good, I catch them on MTV sometimes," he replied, taking his emptied plate to the sink and washing it off before cleaning it, then placing it on the towel to the left where all the wet dishes went. "I'm gonna go catch up with Allie, but maybe us guys can go out and talk some like, totally bro stuff sometime."

The other mutant made a face of possibility and nodded, finally finishing his omelet and slapping it onto his plate. "Yeah," Angel agreed. "That sounds good, just throw me time and where and I'll pass the word along."

"Alright, I'll let you know later. Probably this weekend I'd say," he told the boy, moving slowly through the archway of the kitchen, inching into the hall. Angel nodded, throwing his arm up in farewell as he devoured the omelet right there by the counter. Peter just smirked and bounded out of the room, heading towards where he assumed Allie and Raven would be, considering he'd practically escorted her to the blue mutant's bedroom.

It wasn't long and he was pushing the mutant's door open, peering tentatively inside to see if Allie and Raven were still in there. "Allie?" He called out in question.

"Yeah, here," he heard her say, the girl herself peeking around the corner as he entered, shutting the door. "Hey, we are actually gonna be leaving soon, gonna try and figure some things out with the whole kidnapping ordeal." Then Raven appeared from behind Allie, her form no longer it's natural blue but rather the blonde she'd typically wear outside.

"Oh okay, cool. When will you be back?" He asked, turning to open the door back up when they began trying to exit the room. Allie just looked back at Raven, waiting for her to answer the boy's question. The woman just shrugged and strode out into the hallway, crinkling her nose at trying to estimate their return.

"Later, hard to say. If we find something then we won't be back until late," Raven explained, then leaning in closer to whisper, "I heard Erik is soon coming, good luck if he gets here before we come back." Peter nodded, a smile on his face at the gesture.

"Thanks, if he does I'll let you two know how it goes," then he grabbed Allie's hand, pulling her in for a hug, giving each other a quick kiss before parting. Though their hands were still intertwined.

"If he comes, you'll know what to do. Whether you tell him or not, there will be a next time, okay?" She said, squeezing the boy's hand when he nodded. "Good, I love you. I'll be back soon."

"I love you," he said, watching her go.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty- Five

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hey guys, I kinda figured that maybe I should be communicating with you more, since I really don't do that very much. And also I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful reviews, they really give me a boost of motivation among being forced to write essays on needless things in school. Whenever I hear that we need to write a paper, I internally cringe because I know it'll drain me of my inspiration. So I go home and immediately work on a chapter here so I can get it up before the awful point of my writer's block._

 _That's really besides the point, but I wanted to say thank you for the reviews and I hope you all are enjoying the story. I'm trying really hard to generate some ways that we could take the plot, especially with this new rally thing that Allie is heading to. How do you feel about her lying to Peter? I sorta became bitter at her as I was placing her thoughts in the story, knowing that she's been such a devoted character to him throughout the entirety of the book. And now suddenly she made a shifty decision that's likely to not end well._

 _Also, what do you guys think about Erik and Peter? I've been struggling to decide whether or not I want to have their relation announced, as when the next X-Men movie comes out, I'd really like to follow that plot line. Since, in the films, Peter hasn't quite told Erik yet, I don't want to go ahead and do it here, otherwise I'd probably have a little debacle with writing around the already expressed fact later on. But who knows, maybe I'll just do it and see how things go._

 _I've realized I wrote three paragraphs out of my thoughts, so I'll just let you guys read now. Lot's of exciting things in this chapter, with introductions to new characters and a new conflict, so I hope you guys enjoy and I'll try to write more of these notes. Maybe we can get good discussion stirred up or something of the sorts-_

 _Okay. I'm gonna leave now. Enjoy!_

"Do you really think that fifteen thousand are going to be there?" Allie asked Raven, flush against her seat as they drove at overwhelming speeds towards New York City, running a little late for their rally. Although the handling of the car could've made someone else rather sick, Allie mentally chuckled at the speedometer's marking of a cute ninety miles per hour; it didn't compare to running with Peter. As the blonde comically thought to herself, the Mystique just shrugged, pulling a hand from the wheel to scratch her forehead in anxiousness.

"I'm not sure. But I think a lot will show, maybe not quite fifteen thousand though," she answered, taking a sharp turn to enter a tunnel that would eventually lead them into the city itself. As the light was quickly snatched away from the pair, Allie reached down to turn on the radio, hoping to evade the eerie feeling settling in on her. She knew she was going to be safe with Raven during the demonstration, as the woman acted almost like a mother figure towards all of the younger X-Men, but that didn't stop her nerves from being restless.

As some band sang about running so far away, they both lapsed in and out of conversation for a couple minutes until they'd finally reached the mouth of the tunnel, yellow glare from the lights being replaced with sun rays, much to their delight.

And their satisfaction seemed to rise even further when the pair saw that already there were a lot of people there, protesting away with a wave of signs and chants. On top of that, judging by how the mass of people took up the space of quite a few streets, to the point where Allie and Raven couldn't even see the end of the crowd, there were definitely more than fifteen thousand there. And that was honestly one of the biggest accomplishments alone; it showed off their unity.

"Holy shit," Allie muttered underneath her breath as Raven struggled to find somewhere to park in the sea of cars, some even just stopped in the street with little effort. It wasn't like anyone would try to drive through the next seven blocks anyways.

It wasn't long and Raven was able to squeeze the small car into a pretty tight space in the parking lot of a pizzeria ,that was obviously closed, since they weren't chancing having their store wrecked if things went south in any way. Usually in a scenario of a demonstration, if it happened to turn into a riot, everything around them was fair game; cars, apartments and especially stores. Not that Allie could really agree with destroying innocent people's property, but she knew those were usually the outcomes of that sort of thing.

She vaguely remembered the race riots from when she was younger, watching as Watts and Detroit got mass media coverage due to the violence and rallying. It was scary, especially for little Allie who just sat by while her mom and dad shook their heads at the situations shown through the black and white. But they had helped to make a change, in some way or another. Now it was the mutant's turn to try and express their right to full citizenship and participation in not only politics but just simply American culture in it's own.

Allie understood how people could be scared- how humans could live in fear. Often times, as it seemed, it was mutants who were causing some sort of terrorism whether it be assassinating the president or attempting to nuke every land form on earth. But in the same regard, it's mutants who had stopped it every time. Not all of them agreed with world domination/annihilation. And clearly the wrong move for the state of New York to pull was to ban mutants from doing something so simple. Whoever thought that was a good idea was a complete dick.

"Alright, c'mon, let's go," Raven said quickly, ushering Allie out her side of the car since the blue mutant had squeezed so close to another vehicle she couldn't even open her own door. "We are extremely late."

"Yeaah," Allie drawled whilst tumbling out of the passenger seat and onto the pavement, shimmying quickly out from the parking spot and into the lot. Raven followed suit, briskly walking towards the massive crowd without any waiting around. The blonde skipped forward, attempting to match pace with the disguised woman, not wanting to make her late nor be parted from each other. "Who is it we must meet?"

"His name is John but he likes to go by Jonah. He works for the paper," Raven explained while plowing through the crowd at last, finally having met the bulk of the rally. "Stick by me!"

Allie raised her brows and cautiously took hold of the other blonde's leather jacket, not taking any chances in getting lost in the crowd of mutants and people. There was too much going on for the girl to even think straight, so she just let her feet carry her in the direction Raven was leading them in. And that was straight to the front where a small riser was located, a crude representation at their own stage. Though the mutant hadn't expected for there to be a speaker at the event, she wasn't all that surprised. Of course they'd need some sort of boost, some sort of adrenaline shot.

They were, after all, trying to make a change in just a couple of hours.

"Shit!" Allie shouted when someone's We deserve our rights! sign almost fell straight on top of her after they must've lost hold on it's roughly made handle. It looked as if they taken a paint stir and just slapped a piece of construction paper onto it and called it a day. Not that Allie was really judging, nor did she care that much, she just wanted a reason to insult the sign for it almost hitting her in the head.

Raven looked back quickly to see why Allie had called out. "You good?" She yelled, turning back around to keep trucking, though had her head perked slightly to listen out for the girl. Allie just nodded and ducked a little as they swept past everyone.

"Yeah," she said, pulling closer to the woman as they neared the front of the crowd. It seemed as though they had been walking for about ten minutes, which was far too long for there to only be about fifteen thousand people, Allie observed. They had underestimated the likes of the other mutants, much to her delight, as she had thought that the blatant family-like aura from Xavier's school was some sight to see. The crowd she was in, watching as all of their smiling faces declared that they wouldn't be bullied to submission, was proof that there was more than just a school of kids who were outcasted. It was almost everyone.

"Stay close," the woman said, finally breaking through the dispersed line of people who were leading the demonstration, the pair heading straight towards a group of well dressed people who were huddled together. Most of them were men with the exception of one taller girl, looking to probably be in her early twenties with short black hair and sporting a very business like blazer-pencil skirt combo. She stood out from the rest of the people in the group as she turned, idly looking at the crowd while listening in on the conversation before her. Allie could immediately tell she was a mutant through her purple colored eyes that were shown by the slight movement in her stance.

There seemed to be something about her that managed to capture Allie's attention, though she was unsure of what exactly had her staring. Trying not to be creepy, the blonde just turned and looked at Raven's back as they neared the group, reaching out slowly to take a dip into the pool that was the mysterious girl's mind.

As Allie entered, she couldn't feel anything. It wasn't like when she had dealt with the observation of Apocalypse's mind, for there his only uneasiness was the idea of losing his power; of being put down and never coming back up. But there, as Allie walked closer, being able to feel even further yet, she couldn't get any lick of a fear, or anything at all really. It boggled her since it wasn't like she was being blocked mentally by the woman, as she had clearly felt that sensation when Charles totally ran Allie's ability out of his head on a few occasions. What was going on there was just plain emptiness. No fear at all. It was almost impossible.

Fear, even in the smallest sense, was what made them do many things. Listen to someone talk because you were scared they'd be offended if you dazed off. Being scared to do your work wrong on the job and doing your best in order to succeed. Being scared that your handwriting was rough on that one essay and going back to fix basically the entire thing, just so you could get a good grade on penmanship. There were so many things that fear took a hold of in one's life that it was practically impossible to live without. If worry disappeared, the entire world would be in ruin because people would have no reason to give two shits about anything.

What scared Allie in the situation of the woman having, seemingly enough, no fear was that she had no idea what her mutation was. If someone incapable of feeling any uneasiness had superhuman abilities, that could mean extremely bad news. And Allie was just getting over fighting some overpowered mutant who feared almost nothing, she didn't want to do it again.

"Mr. Jameson!" Raven called whilst climbing onto the riser, catching a young man's attention as she approached. Popping away from the group of men plus the strange woman came a lean man, dressed very nicely in a pair of slacks and a button up shirt, hands in his pockets respectively while a newspaper laid between his arm and torso. He almost looked posed for some television show as he neared them, appearing to be the boy next door type of guy.

"Hey, great to finally meet you," he said in a voice that sounded like it had taken a beating from a hobby of cigarettes. He seemed too young to have already been affected by the negatives of regular smoking, making Allie cringe. He must've done it a lot then; she couldn't even imagine doing that to herself. Her dad had a problem with it, though back then it was okay to smoke pretty much everywhere you wanted to. It even was in the 80s, apparently, though Allie could see that it wasn't so prominent then. The smoke couldn't have been good for you if there was something about it that attacked your vocal chords. "I see you've brought a friend."

He smiled at Allie while reaching his hand out to shake Raven's hand. The disguised woman took it earnestly, passing his hand onto Allie's then. She shook it quickly and stepped back behind Raven, not really enjoying the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes off of her even as the other mutant began speaking with him.

"When are you giving the speech?" Raven asked him, noticing how he kept glancing at the other blonde as he spoke to her. She just mentally rolled her eyes and moved a little bit closer to Allie in hopes of hiding her away more.

"Soon, we are just making some preparations. We weren't expecting this many people to show up," he said, gesturing out to the street where thousands of people stood getting themselves hyped up for their demonstrations speech.

"Good, we need to get it done quickly before something goes wrong and this entire thing heads south," Raven explained, arms crossed with caution as she looked around the setting. Allie shook her head in response to the statement, not being able to think about what would happen if in the scenario of a riot. She'd just have to run and hope that she could get home safely somehow.

Her mind suddenly flashed to Peter looking worried, wondering where she could be if Raven came back to the school, unknowing of Allie's whereabouts.

I should've told him, she thought angrily at herself. Why did I not tell him? He probably wouldn't have even reacted in the way she thought he would've. Damn it. If something happened at this rally and he realized that she was in it, Allie would have a lot of explaining to do… she not only lied to him, she put herself in danger. Why did she come there? Allie should've just said she'd pass on the offer that Raven had given her, but her frustration was just so high in that moment that she wanted to help. She wanted to make a difference.

But there was no going back. Allie was there and figured she'd need to adopt that irritated mind set once more if she was going to make an impact on the mutant rights issue.

"That's what I said," a man who had suddenly dispersed from the group came up to them, placing a hand heartily on Mr. Jameson's- or Jonah's- shoulder. The young man just looked over at the other who'd just shown up to their conversation with slight annoyance. Allie wondered what his deal was with the older guy. "I brought a bodyguard with me," he then chuckled, throwing a hand back towards where the woman with the purple eyes stood stoically.

"Yeah, and if that one goes down you have roughly twenty five thousand others to take her place," Jonah said monotonously, turning back to look at Raven, all the while sneaking glances at Allie.

"Who is she?" Raven asked. The older man just shrugged.

"A gift from a friend. Apparently she has a sort of system about her that is controlled by a single person, me, and can carry out tasks given by myself," he explained, hand placed on his chest as he addressed himself. Allie's brows furrowed as she looked on at the woman, realizing that perhaps she wasn't even a mutant at all, less a human. She was betting more towards the robot idea. Which would explain why she couldn't see any fear at all within her, though it was strange because Allie knew for a fact that robots typically didn't even have true brains, just some sort of programming that made them appear to have one.

But whatever the system was, it didn't account to a living brain with all of it's neurons and scientific stuff that Allie hadn't cared all too much about freshman year. So why could she take a peek in if there wasn't even supposed to be anything there?

It gave Allie the chills as she thought of the possibility of some mutant girl being taken over and used as some sort of base for a robotic like system, her body being just a shell to look, for the most part, normal. Now that, that was something that she'd only read in those creepy 1800s science fiction books.

"Seems productive. So what's the plan?" Allie snorted at Raven's comment, turning her back to them to look out by the crowd, noticing some of the people in the front staring up at the group curiously. The blonde just smiled at them and waved, watching as their happy faces disguised their slight over laying of fear that something may go wrong on that day. Allie could only empathize with them, for she felt more or less the same way, though truly hoped her emotions were just being stretched due to Peter not being there.

She really did feel safe with him. And the thought pissed her off because Allie could've just made the right decision and had been cozy at home with him while his dad came…

Allie had forgotten about that. His dad was supposed to come that day. And she lied to him, went to a place where something awful was likely to go down… and was completely missing a point in Peter's life that would probably mean the world to him. Fuck. She kind of hated herself in that moment. Why did she do this?

Just thinking about her massive mistake, Allie worriedly brought her hand up to run it through her hair, nervously glancing around with her other hand on her hip. Apparently Jonah had seen her rather displeased state and abandoned the conversation he was in to approach Allie. He came up beside her quietly, though she could clearly feel him for his fear of her rejecting his attempt at small talk was very strong; almost overwhelming really.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked her, his raspy voice annoying Allie slightly. She really did not want to talk to him in that moment. He was too confident and cocky for her tastes and, well, Allie had Peter, of course.

"Just nervous," she said bluntly, not really wanting to be too much of a prick to the man that Raven had been affiliated with in the first place, Jonah being the person that she had pretty much showed up for. The reporter just sighed, hands in his pockets yet with that damned newspaper tucked in his arm. Did he just have it for the image or was he actually going to read it?

"Oh I-"

"Jameson, get your ass over here! We are starting!" The man who owned the robot woman called to Jonah, thankfully putting an end to the awkward encounter that he had been forcing onto Allie. It was her turn to sigh, but in great relief. Without even saying another word the reporter turned and jogged across the short riser to reach the area where a microphone was set up, ready for whoever would be giving a speech that day.

She hoped that it was at least a good one.

The X-Mansion…

Peter had been waiting. According to Charles, that day was the one that Erik was due to arrive at the mansion to help with their big kidnapping issue. And though the boy was rather nervous to even simply see the man, he was also really excited. It was like that moment in a book where the narrator's secret is finally revealed to another character and it's just this really fun feeling of finding out their reaction to it being released. He always looked forward to that moment in some stories, a swell of happiness at finally seeing someone else know some sort of wild plot twist.

And soon, he hoped, Peter would have a living plot like that with his dad. If he managed to gather the courage enough-

"Peter!" Charles rolled up to the living room, Erik trailing behind him loosely. Peter turned sharply, freezing in place when he saw the metal manipulating mutant behind the telepath, unknowing of how to react to him standing there. He had appeared so suddenly it startled Peter enough that he didn't even understand what was happening. "I brought Erik in to talk about our… situation. Since Allie and Raven are both out on their own expedition, I figured it would be safe to say you're next in line to talk to about it."

Peter, realizing he was staring at the two men as if he were an insane person, attempted to act cool and collected. "Yeah of course, sounds good. Yep." He scooched over on the couch to allow room for Erik, though his dad took a seat in one of the arm chairs beside Charles. Awkwardly, the mutant just put his feet up as if he'd only moved over to make room for his legs. Why was this already going awfully?

Charles looked to both of them, an expression of disdain for their topic of conversation on his face. "I have informed Erik of the bare minimum of our issues here, but before we get into further details, I'd like for you to explain how this Stryker character has affected us within the last ten years or so." Peter nodded as he listened to the professor speak, slowly moving position so that his legs were no longer on the couch. He felt a little rude for sitting so casually when talking about what would inevitably be Allie's despair, as that was the greatest tie they had to Stryker.

As he shuffled clumsily back to a regular sitting position, Erik watched Peter with a strange look in his eye.

"For someone who can't get their legs tangled, you're quite rough on your feet," the mutant commented, forcing Peter to look at Erik with a raised brow. He just shrugged, leaning comfortably back into the couch with ease, sinking in the cushions.

"For someone who is an all powerful mutant, I'm surprised you don't know karate," the boy threw back at his dad, noting that maybe in the ten years he'd last seen him the man had in fact learned karate. Seriously, Peter suddenly thought, scoffing mentally. Would he really spend time to do karate when he could throw a building at Bruce Lee and call it quits? Don't think so.

Erik just smiled and narrowed his eyes at Peter. "Sure, but I still know crazy more than you." Something about the comment made the boy's inside tingle, as he realized Erik had remembered their conversation from the Pentagon, all those years ago. It wasn't like the mutant had forgotten about Peter.

The boy laughed, leaning forward to place his elbows over his knees, hands locking into each other to make a perch for him to place his chin. Finally, they had broken through the ice a little bit.

"So," Peter said, brows raised yet by their little bout of teasing. "Basically the age of us knowing Stryker started back at the whole White House thing. I don't know if you were there or not…" Peter offhandedly said to Erik sarcastically, not even smiling at his own joke as he continued on. Though the other mutant sat there with a smirk on his mouth, close to interrupting Peter just to make a comment of his own. Between the father and son, Charles watched with a little smile, enjoying the way they already seemed to have some sort of bond without all parties knowing of the relation. Perhaps these things just came naturally.

"I guess Stryker worked with Trask on the project, since Allie had seen him there when she tried to stop Raven from like, ruining everything," he explained, gesturing wildly with his hands as he spoke. "Then… after that we had a few months peace. Everything was good…" Peter sighed. "One day we are out at this old playground that I used to screw around in as a kid, eat some cream puffs that I had stolen or whatever, and shit just went down."

"Allie and I decided to play some sort of mix of tag and hide and seek, which don't worry, I wasn't playing unfairly and just zooming around and being a dick. I counted first, she hid and all of a sudden I just hear this gunshot, Allie scream and then me whooshing through that treeline like I would never stop. When I got there some guy with this black suit on and a gun in his hand is standing there."

By this point, Erik's expression had lost it's humor and turned sour, a look of discomfort on his face as Peter told a tale that only drifted darker as he continued. Charles listened on too, pained as he had to listen to the retelling of what he had seen glimpses of through the couple's unguarded minds.

"Obviously, I was pissed. Shot the guy in the leg, took Allie to the hospital, told them it was a gun range mishap and then hauled ass back to the dickhead. I didn't find out much off of interrogating him myself, so I decided we would need to take a roadtrip to see Charles, the man who could dissect any brain. Probably both figuratively and literally."

The professor shrugged. "I know a thing or two," he said before gesturing Peter to continue on.

"All we really found out was that he was an agent working for a really secretive organization type thing. He informed us of this project: Weapon X. It called for the kidnapping of mutants, then for them to be used as test subjects…" Peter felt the intensity of his words wrap around all of them, some sort of bigger than life story coming to their minds as a reality they hadn't quite comprehended before. At least not until they had witnessed it through the entire Apocalypse ordeal that led them straight to Stryker. "Apparently the task was to create an enforcement of super mutants that could fight and win wars and shit like that."

"We stayed the weekend, couldn't quite figure out what to do with the little information we had, and then went home. And… and I should've just… stayed with her. You know that feeling that if you would've just made a choice that could've changed everything?" Peter asked suddenly, not intending to get so emotional with his informative conference with the two men, but just seemed to have gotten caught up in his first retelling of the tale. As the boy looked up, he made eye contact with Erik who had a very empathetic look upon his face. Peter could only imagine the things that the mutant regretted.

"It's… it's besides the point, but when Allie went home that night, Stryker was waiting. I guess he took her. We haven't really talked about it too much. But it was ten years. She was there for ten years. And it was nothing but torture on top of torture, looking to turn her into some sort of monster. Allie- you remember her mutation right? Could like, make people hallucinate their fears or whatever." Erik only nodded in confirmation of knowing how the girl had operated. "Well now she can make shadow men, physical things that can hurt people. They did this through all the testing."

"Then recently we came here, where personally, me and a bunch of other people were taken by the same guy- this Stryker dickwad. Somehow Allie was able to get away and catch up to us in the heat of Apocalypse totally taking Charles over," Peter sighed, leaning into the couch while eyeing up Erik to gauge his reaction over the entire thing. He seemed stoic, like he'd been really taking it in.

Erik moved to the side slightly, framing his jaw with a thumb and forefinger. "So then you were placed within the battlefield that the Horseman had created?" Peter nodded, remembering how he'd approached Erik as the man materialized some sort of force field around himself, not allowing Raven nor he to get to the mutant.

"I couldn't help but feel that you wanted to tell me something there…" Erik stated lowly, making a burst of surprise encompass all of Peter's emotions in that moment. How… Erik must've been thinking about that for a long time. Long enough for him to still have the curiosity from wondering about the encounter that would've turned into a confession if Peter had only been brave enough to do so.

Charles looked at the boy slowly. 'Do it,' he told him telepathically. Peter mentally nodded and looked pointedly at Erik, prepared to spill the beans.

"Yeah, I'm-" smoke. Lot's of blue, inky smoke. It stopped Peter from dropping the bomb as he coughed loudly, looking up through the dispersing vapor to find Kurt and Angel standing before him, both with worried expressions as more mutants entered the living room. Jean and Scott appeared from nowhere, the redhead throwing her hand out towards the television set located in the back of the room, opposite to where Peter and the other two men were seated by the fireplace.

As the device came to life, a grainy image of what appeared to be New York came on, the camera focused in on a man dressed very nicely who appeared to be giving some sort of speech.

"Something is going on," Jean said, telekinetically turning up the volume. "There's a massive rally. I don't know how I didn't hear about it." Then Scott neared the T.V. as his red tinted glasses did little to make the image on it clearer.

"They said there is about thirty thousand people there, most of them mutants," he said, looking back at Jean then the rest of them. Angel and Kurt glanced at each other with faces of worry when the angle changed to an impending mass of riot police marching towards the crowd, though were separated from the mutants by a street wide banner and a small stage. But, it was just paper and a short speech, not that hard to get through with force.

It was when the cameras changed back to the man apparently giving a speech did Peter's heart drop. There, just barely in view was Raven.

Raven and Allie went to see if they could find anything more out about the kidnapping. That's what she told you, he thought with shock, realizing that Allie had lied. She had to be there at that demonstration. And all of those riot police were probably seconds from putting it down, even though it seemed like everything was peaceful.

"Shit," Peter cursed, breaking into spine breaking speeds.

He needed to get to Allie.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty- Six**

Allie never thought that such a large gathering of people could be so silent all at once; even the birds could speak through their quietness as they all stood there, waiting.

The speech was announced to begin, and as if they'd all lost their voices, the murmuring and conversation ceased in one quick, mute wave. Allie rubbed at the chills on her arm whilst standing beside the stage that was occupied by Raven and the other few important figures of the demonstration. Jonah and the robot girl had their places on opposite sides of the blonde, making Allie feel pretty protected. With a badass bodyguard to her right, and a pushy reporter to her left, she was well off.

Suddenly, the older man who owned the robot girl took a step behind the podium placed tediously on the edge of the stage, tapping the microphone by his lips. The speakers set up towards the crowd echoed the feedback loudly, confirming that yes, the microphone was in fact on.

"Hello, mutants," the man said slowly, feeling the entire crowd's anticipation towards his words. They were thirsty for something good to listen to- something that would rile them right up. "I see that many… many of you have shown up. Thank you all for being here. We wouldn't be able to do this without you, brothers and sisters." He grasped the podium's ledges for support, seeming to absorb power through the tattered wood and into his hands.

"This," he paused, looking for the right words. When he found them: "This has been a struggle. Many, many years of suffering to finally reach this point." As Allie listened to his words, she wondered if mutant segregation had become some sort of normality throughout her ten years of being locked away from the world. By the way he was saying things, it sounded as though there had been a mass of incidents that targeted mutants in the rather short course of time. Even though Allie hadn't quite encountered any human who had openly discriminated upon them in public, or anywhere in fact, she debated the relevancy there.

"Now, now, I must introduce myself. My name is Quincey. Quincey Gale and I am a human," that statement caused a flurry of noise from the crowd as everyone wondered why he had been speaking prior to then as if he was a mutant too. Of all the things that could've been odd about their demonstration, the fact that their guest speaker was a human was probably the most unexpected. Of course, there were a couple humans in the crowd, vowing their allegiance to liberty and freedom for all races within the country. But giving the speech… how could it possibly be relatable from the given perspective that was targeting them?

"Hush," he said, gathering their attention once more. "Thank you. I know that it is strange. But… I am more of a supporter for mutants than some mutants actually are. And there are many of humans like me out there. There are plenty who hold compassion and empathy for the mutant race. Then… there are also those who are not quite graceful."

An image of Stryker flashed in Allie's mind, making her unintentionally lean into Jonah. He didn't say anything as she corrected herself, but he had noticed the small prod in his side, making the newspaper between them crinkle slightly.

"These people are nasty- I'm sure you can agree." From that there was a loud commotion that only proved his statement. "Of course, they do not think there is anything wrong with their actions. In a different set of matters, but all the same situations, really, they are racists. And what we need to do to overcome this bigotry is stand up against all odds. We have power. They don't."

Allie frowned. This Quincey guy was beginning to sound like Erik; the horseman kind of Erik.

"They want to push us, well, we will push back! They might have built what is around us. They might have the authority of this state, this country. But it's supposed to be free- free for all. If they want to take that away from us, we can take much, much more from them."

"We have that power."

Cheers. That's all that could be heard following the words, and it scared Allie. Whoever this man was, he was crazy. Yes, shit right then and there was frustrating and every mutant had every right to be offended by the treatment done onto them by New York. But they couldn't talk about this indirect suggestion of violence- of demolition. Quincey was convincing the entire crowd that this was a justifiable way to go about things. A single state decided to leave mutants off of their local government. Not good? Yes, of course it wasn't good; it was practically illegal. Retaliation? Sure, but they couldn't be diving into full chaos. There were so many wrong points in what he was insinuating.

From out of the corner of Allie's eye, she spotted a flurry of movement breaking through the mass sea of people, opposite to the previously frozen group of mutants. As she turned, there appeared to be a little news crew clawing their way through the crowd to get some television coverage of the event; they were thirsty for mutant drama. The blonde just shook her head, glad that she wasn't standing up with Raven. The last time she was on television, she'd almost died at the hands of Erik; better to not sum up another similar situation.

"It has been too long for us to keep putting up with this discrimination. They continuously throw hate at us when all we do is save their planet," Quincey went on, hands wildly gesturing through the air above his head. In the midst of the agreeing cheers, a single man stepped out from the crowd of mutants and past the line of speakers that were an indirect boundary. Whoever he was, he didn't look happy in the least.

Quincey seemed to notice his small figure approach the stage, for he hushed everyone quiet. "What is this?" He asked once the mass group of mutants weren't so loud.

The man took a step forward, jabbing his finger in Quincey's direction. "You want to say that you fuckers save our planet? Who the hell are you saving it from? Oh, that's right. Mutants," he laughed. "It's fucking mutants who are constantly making the fight here. But when we step in to stop this shit from happening, a big fucking fit is thrown because you guys think you're entitled to the same shit we are. You are monsters and I don't think that you should be even standing in this street without fucking shackles on all of your feet."

Shit. This guy… he shouldn't have done that. Allie was pissed at his words, but more worried of his punishment than her own anger.

"Go ahead, burn me to a crisp or fucking zap me to dust, whatever the hell you all can do. Show us the real monsters you are," the man continued, taunting the crowd as he turned to face them, hands up in a toying surrender. No one did anything, of course. They knew that if they so dared clenched their fists he'd begin flipping out, which in turn would lead to something bad. And they couldn't just attack him, as he'd have his point proven then. So all they could do is sit and wait for Quincey to say something.

"Do you think that you are the face of many opinions?" Quincey asked him, leaning over the podium. Allie watched as the man turned around and took another heated step forward. As he drove his finger right back up at their speaker, the blonde sensed a shocking wave of fear rush through her, a flurry of commotion coming from the crowd. She'd been so focused on listening to what the accusing man had to say that Allie hadn't heard the impending marching coming from the opposing side of the street.

Spanned from the right to the left side of the road was a long banner, giving the stage a backdrop to separate it from the rest of the lane; they couldn't quite see what was coming from behind it, but it sure as hell sounded like it wasn't good.

Allie looked over again, seeing the man now standing proudly before Quincey. He seemed to know what was happening.

"The riot police. They knew what you're all capable of," he yelled at their speaker first, then turned in a big circle to scream at the crowd. "You're all going to fucking learn!" The news team began shuddering in fear as the marching sounded as though it was just beyond the thin banner that offered no protection to them. There was so much emotion rushing through each and every one of them, forcing Allie to try and block out as much as she could before having a mental breakdown.

There was a colossus amount of anxiety being enticed straight from all of them, knowing that even though they could easily take on the riot police with all of their power combined, it wouldn't make them look good. Which was a sticky situation, considering it would be tough to just sit there and let some human smack you around with a baton, knowing that you could blink and send them to their grave.

"We were being peaceful. But you showed up. It's humans like you who are causing as much trouble," Quincey fired back calmly, though his soft spoken words did nothing to ease the other man. Instead he got riled up again, sputtering out a string of curses towards the speaker and the gathered mutants.

"Fuck you! We wouldn't have to do this if it weren't for your reputations. Seeing you on the streets free makes us fear what could happen. I think it's about time to end this all!"

He then pulled out a gun and Allie barely had time to process what was about to happen before the trigger was pulled.

She could almost watch it move in slow motion, the bullet spinning in even circles straight towards Quincey, who still leant over the podium in a calm gesture. It seemed like he didn't even have time to react to the death heading straight towards him. Allie wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn't. It was soon due to hit him and she couldn't look away.

But then, suddenly, there was a hand- a hand that was placed perfectly around the speeding bullet, blocking it's straight path towards Quincey's head. And as Allie followed the hand's owner, she was shocked to find Peter standing there, a rather intense expression on his face as he turned to look directly at her. There was no doubt in her mind that the never before seen, stoic looking mutant was angry… at her.

He didn't even care that he'd saved a man's life as he dropped the bullet onto the stage, eyes still trained on her as he stepped off it and strode directly towards the girl. Even as the assassin, who stood completely frozen with the gun still in his hand, received some sort of blue energy blast through the chest, Peter continued to only be trained on her. Shit.

"P- Peter," Allie stuttered out, taking a step backwards in fear of both what he'd say to her, and the morphing scene behind him. The assassin- he was dead- everyone on the stage was trying to defuse the irate crowd who were now taunting the riot police just on the other side of their flimsy little banner. And here Peter was, pushing aside Jonah as the reporter attempted to ask who he was and why he was coming so threateningly close to Allie.

Ignoring everything around him, Peter came up to the blonde and grabbed her hand promptly. As they came into contact, he seemed to lose whatever controlling anger he'd fallen victim to; now he was just worried.

"We need to leave. Now," was all he told her, looking at her pointedly while nodding. Allie only nodded back, allowing him to drag her towards the crowd. "I can't run through these people. They're crowding up the alley ways now, so we need to push through." And so they did, shoving their way towards the middle of the dangerous group, hearing a surplus of noise rise as the riot police must've made contact with the mutants. Allie remembered then that Raven was still back there.

"Peter!" She shouted, getting shoulder checked by a couple of people, causing them to stumble back together at the will of their linked fingers. "We can't go yet!" He turned, tugging on her hand so that he could wrap an arm around her instead.

"I'm sure she's fine. We need to leave, this isn't good," he told her, having full faith in Raven's ability to take care of herself. This probably wasn't her first rodeo.

Allie just nodded, knowing that it would be better to not push her luck with him. She'd probably already worried him to death, the last thing she wanted to do was start something right there in the middle of a riot. The police were right on their tails too, so they didn't have anytime to think for anyone else but themselves until they were far enough away.

So they kept trudging through the dispersing crowd, quickly getting away from the madness. They didn't dare turn around at any points of their departure, both scared of what they'd see behind them, Allie could tell.

The violence, however, wasn't quite what was edging her anxiety. It was the bitterness she felt radiating off of Peter. She felt… bad. She hadn't ever seen him so hurt- so dreadfully disappointed… at her...

"Hey!" Allie turned, right as they were going to get into the more open part of the street, and found a small group of riot police gaining on their general area. The blonde's eyes widened in fear and she pushed on Peter's back.

"Go," she yelped, feeling him glance back towards whatever had spooked her, moving quicker when he spotted the armored men tailing them.

"Get in front of me," he told Allie, hoping that if one of the officers would come after them, they'd aim to hit Peter before her. But she was tugged back by an unknown force before he could settle her in front of him.

She yelled out, not given any time to process what was happening as a baton was brought down onto her legs and hips. Peter… he couldn't go into his super speed, otherwise the entire crowd rushing around them would be burst away, so he had to rely on his instincts.

The other officers dispersed from the one who was hitting Allie, one of them narrowing their eyes in on Peter as he realized the mutant was with the blonde. The gray haired boy was ready, fists clenched angrily as he stared down the man approaching him. But then he dropped, baton smacking against the ground loudly. Behind the officer's fallen body was a random black mass, looming for a moment before being whisked away by the light breeze.

It must've been Allie, he concluded, turning to look back towards where she was previously being assaulted by the police officer, finding that the man's body was no more than a bloodied slump on the ground. The girl herself was grasping around her to stand as quickly as she could, feeling the pain fade away rather fast.

Peter ran up to the blonde, grabbing her around the shoulders once more, all the while trying to avoid being trampled by the mass of mutants zipping around all over the place. "C'mon, we are almost out enough for me to get us away."

They continued then, gaining more and more distance from the chaos and were soon just running with equally scared mutants and humans instead of the angry ones, looking to pick fights with the officers. Peter could feel his irritation seeping back into his system as they no longer had to worry about being needlessly attacked. Allie… why did she do that to him?

He wasn't even all that pissed about the fact that she didn't tell him she was going to this random riot thing, but the fact that it interfered with him telling his dad. He was so damn close and it physically pained Peter to think that he could have finally just let it go, put it out in the open and not had to have worried about it anymore.

Of course, Peter would choose to save Allie from the madness of the demonstration over telling Erik his secret any day, but that didn't mean that he wasn't upset about it. She left him out on something important and it cost him…

"Um, Peter?" Allie suddenly said quietly, huddled in his side as they neared the emptier part of the street. He hummed gruffly, not intending to make himself sound like a complete dick, but didn't go out of his way to mention it. She just sighed. "I'm- I'm sorry. I should've-"

He didn't want to start anything right there in the aftermath of a riot, so Peter just cut the girl off and split straight to running back to the mansion, sending them both to their shared room. He flung Allie onto the bed and then sat down on the far end of their mattress, grasping the comforter tightly, his eyes shut even tighter.

Allie took a deep breath, winded by so much running, then being thrown onto their sheets like she was nothing. She didn't want to get up and face her mistake; she had to though.

"I know you're mad," she told him, obviously. But he shook his head.

"Allie. I was so close…" he could barely even say it without feeling like he was actually going to cry. Did it really upset him that much?

The girl scrunched her brows. "So close to what?"

"My dad," he whispered. "I was so close to telling him." Allie put the pieces together as she sat up, being punched with such a hard self loathing feeling that she almost wanted to just fall back down onto the bed. That wouldn't be acceptable though, since she'd done this herself. It was her fault that this happened, and she needed to own up to it.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry, Peter," she told him, crawling along the sheets to come behind the boy, wrapping her arms around his waist and lying her head just above his shoulder blades. "I wish I could fix this."

She felt his hands slowly encompass hers as he silently accepted the apology, knowing that she truly did feel bad about it.

"It's okay," he sighed. Allie did the same, allowing her eyes to fall shut for a moment in relief, until she felt a splash of wetness on the knuckle of her thumb. Was he… crying?

Oh no. No, no, no. Allie couldn't handle that.

She reached up, grabbing Peter's jaw lightly in her hand to try and face him towards her. He moved slightly with the gesture, though stopped himself before she could see the single tears escaping his eyes. But it was enough for her to notice that she was right.

"No, don't cry. Oh- I'm… please don't cry," she stuttered, pulling him so that they were giving each other a real hug then, Peter not hesitating to bury his head deep within her neck. He wanted something told on to while the idea of him being so close continuously tore through him, reminding the mutant that it finally could've been off of his chest. Erik might've known. "Maybe… it wasn't meant to happen yet. I know that probably doesn't make you feel better, but these things, they happen for a reason."

It didn't really help Peter feel better, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to take it into consideration. Maybe Allie was right. She had said those words before, back when she had been talking about being taken by Stryker; it was meant to happen, she had consoled him, once. So perhaps the scenario that he sat within now was just the same. Though Erik seemed to hold interest in what Peter had wanted to confess to him, he might've completely brushed the boy off upon hearing such a revelation. Even left the entire estate for all they knew, just due to disbelief.

But wouldn't he be relieved? To hear that he had a son that he hadn't known about all this time?

Peter didn't quite know, and by that point he was beginning to make up different situations that had worse and worse outcomes as compared to what would probably actually go down.

"Hey," Allie whispered to him. "I can feel you working yourself up on it. It's simple. We can just tell him tonight, alright?" Yeah, simple as that, Peter repeated to himself.

"Can you ask Charles if he's still down there? Erik I mean," Peter asked her, feeling the girl nod. He didn't want Charles in his mind at the moment.

 _Charles?_ Allie called out to the man with her mental capabilities, hoping that it was loud enough for him to hear. It wasn't long before she got a response after asking a few more times.

 _Yes, Allie?_ He answered her.

 _Is Erik still down there with you? Peter wanted me to ask since he sorta missed out on his opportunity to say something to him_. It was silent for a couple moments before the professor spoke up, making Allie worried.

 _He's… he left_ , Allie.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty- Seven

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hey, so big chapter ahead. We have a lot of introductions in here, whether it be issues, characters, feelings(!) or some more Peter/Allie bonding. So I hope you guys enjoy where things are heading, as I'm trying to map out a rather crude outline of how I want things to go down. So hopefully this doesn't turn out too messy or anything… but nevertheless, please enjoy this next chapter!_

"In the aftermath of the NYC mutant riot, the council has come to resume it's first given point of not allowing any super humans on their boards. The seven thousand slaughtered police officers prove this so, according to the state service department," Spencer Christian stated solemnly to the camera, echoing in various points throughout the mansion as all the mutants sat by to see the devastation left by the rally turned riot. The grainy camera footage roamed through blocks of dead bodies, most officers but many mutants as well, surprisingly enough. It was truly shocking to all of their young eyes.

Charles and Hank sat behind the kids as they watched the television, mouths wide open in a morbid awe of what they were seeing; the history they were witnessing. They surely didn't like the images being placed within their minds, but they also were silently happy that it showcased the brutality that can be shown through _both_ sides, not just mutants. As far as they all knew, the violence was obsolete during the demonstration all the way up until the instigator showed up, hollering at the speaker and the crowd.

But before those events even occurred, the riot police were already deployed despite there not being any violence to be wary of. No one was breaking into any shops, nor destroying any cars. Everything was fine until an assassination attempt was almost successful on the human man's part, which would naturally require at least some sort of retaliation from the mutants. So there clearly was a fault on the police department for showing up, ready to put something down that truly wasn't even an issue yet.

Even as Allie entered the room, watching the looping footage a couple times, she could see that there really was nothing more than a peaceful protest going on.

Trying to not look at the sight of so many beaten and dead bodies, Allie shied away from the television screen, choosing to instead tip toe towards the Professor so as to not interrupt the other kids. Upon kneeling beside his wheelchair, she laid an arm on it's back rest in order to keep balance, wobbling a little in her tennis shoes.

"Is he coming back?" She asked him quietly, enough so that not even Hank could hear them. Though he was invested in the news report anyhow, so he probably wasn't even paying attention to their conversation.

Charles sighed softly. "I don't know," he whispered back, turning to peer down at the girl's hunched figure. "He informed us that he needed to address a certain matter once he discovered the means of the protest." The explanation left Allie with furrowed brows, curiously wondering if Erik had something to do with the riot in any way. It seemed like something that would be right up his alley as she thought more of it, imagining his old White House speech taking the place of Quincey's. It would be then that she would better understand the riot police's stance in the situation.

"That's all he said, I'm assuming," the girl stated, sighing in defeat as she wanted at least something substantial to bring back to the distressed Peter; how could things ever be that easy though?

Charles nodded, upset as well that the opportunity was missed for the young man and his father. "I'm afraid so, though I will definitely count on his return to help the kidnapping situation. He appeared to be very curious of it when he was here for that short while."

Well, that was at least good. Maybe Erik would be tossed back into their arms much quicker than they'd anticipated, allowing Peter to finally confess his secret then. They'd just have to wait a little while, as patience was the key in any situation like that. At least then Peter could take some time to evaluate things, maybe turn his focus back onto training for the time being, even. Anything to relieve him of the stress of having missed his chance.

Allie, she knew she'd be trying to make it up to him all the way through. She felt… really, really bad about the entire thing.

"That's good," relieved, she replied, standing. "I'll stay in touch, see where the next steps to this entire ordeal will be, alright?" Charles nodded, satisfied with her participation in figuring out their issues instead of brushing them off.

"Wonderful," he told her, giving Allie a handsome smile. She just grinned back and strode out of the room, the sounds of televised chaos becoming distant as she practically ran away from it. As she entered the hall, there appeared to be a few mutants loitering around the corridors, not quite wanting to be a part of the tragedy that was the riot. Allie could understand, as it was a scary incident considering the fact that they all really had no idea what this meant for them.

For all they knew, there would be legitimate laws finally put into place that forbade certain rights from mutants, all because of the increased show of violence. Although there could probably be a well defended argument on their end in regards of the appearance of the riot police, plus the retaliation naturally caused by an assassination attempt amidst the entirely peaceful protest.

"Aye, Allie," a British voice called as the girl walked absentmindedly through the clustered mutants, interrupting her. She turned sharply, startled, only to find that it was just Angel, who was standing beside Kurt at the wall. It had almost felt like years since she'd spoken to either of them.

"Hey guys," she greeted the pair, arms crossed as she approached them, trying to stay out of the way of oncoming mutant traffic in the hall. Kurt just smiled and waved at the girl cheerily, eliciting a loud snort from Angel.

"You're so fuckin' weird," Angel laughed, shaking his head jokingly at the boy beside him. Kurt just made a face, giving the blonde a decent thwap on the upper arm closest to him.

Allie smiled at their apparent friendship, knowing that it must've been killing Kurt to finally be so close to the guy that he'd been crushing on. She was happy that things were working out for him so far, despite the odds of having some random attraction for one of Apocalypse's four horsemen. Of course, luck was given to those who deserved it most, and Kurt truly did require a break from the madness that he was raised in.

"At least I don't look like Tinker Bell," Kurt slyly commented, turning away from Angel's mockingly offended expression. The boy was only glad that he was able to make a pop culture reference.

"What, your wings starting to grow in again?" Allie asked, pulling the blonde's attention away from the blue mutant. He nodded, looking around carefully to make sure no one was paying any mind to them before turning around. As he did so, Angel carefully grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and lifted it up, revealing a petite set of little white feathered wings peeking out of his shoulder blades. Allie resisted laughing at the ridiculous sight of them sitting so small and perfect on his back, as if they'd been glued on for some church play.

"All you need is a little halo," the girl told him, watching as Angel's face contorted into a grimace while he turned, dropping the shirt back down. She noticed Kurt quickly glance away, as he'd been previously staring at the boy's exposed skin; _cute_ , the girl thought.

"Oi, shut it. I've about heard enough of that comment outta every other person I meet," Angel chuckled, turning to carefully lean back onto the wall behind him, mindful to not crush the sprouting wings. "Anyways, wanted to ask what's been goin' on, heard you were at the thing everyone is talking on about," he told her, making Allie sigh, nodding as she took a step closer to the couple.

They both moved in as well, forming a little huddle in the midst of everyone in the hall. "Yeah, there was a massive protest, thirty some thousand showed, I guess. Raven and I went, and things were completely fine until some dickhead started taunting the crowd and the guy who was giving a speech. Eventually he pulled a gun on Quincey- the speech guy- and tried to shoot him blank, right in front of everyone."

Angel and Kurt both listened to the tale, faces left with a pissed off confusion at the assassin's actions. "But luckily Peter miraculously showed up, must've seen the idiot frozen there, bullet just leaving the gun or something and was able to stop it before it got to Quincey. So then the crowd went haywire, killed the assassin and began yelling over at the riot police that had shown up just a couple minutes before then. Everything from there just went South, the riot police came over onto our side and began attacking people. Peter and I just barely got away."

"Wow, what the actual fuck is wrong with people," Angel said explicitly, standing straight as he broke their huddle to wonder just how screwed some minds were. Seriously, that guy really expected to be able to shoot a man point blank at a _mutant_ rally. There were probably a couple hundred mutants in that crowd that could read his mind before he'd even figured about pulling the gun out.

"Right, tell me about it," Allie huffed, remembering the man's rude and repetitive argument he displayed in front of the entire crowd. "It was a shit show, that's for sure."

"No kidding," a voice came from behind Allie, causing her to whip around and spot Raven, still disguised as a human, walking from the direction of the main entrance and right towards the group. As she approached, the woman placed a hand on Allie's shoulder. "We need to talk, get Peter and meet me in Charles' study." Then she was off as if she'd never stopped to talk in the first place.

Angel and Kurt just eyed Allie as she hesitantly nodded whilst backing away from the boys. "Alrighty then guys, guess I'll see you later. Good luck with the wings," the girl waved at them, moving quickly down the hall to reach the stairs, not taking any time to give her friends a chance to say bye. It seemed like whatever Raven wanted to tell them was pretty urgent, and Allie was sure as hell not gonna hold up whatever meeting they were gonna have with Charles.

"Peter?" Allie called out to the boy as she stepped into their room, kicking some of their laundry towards the wall, out of her way of walking. As she turned the corner, she was met with the sight of him just lying in bed, looking at the ceiling in a contemplative sort of way. "What are you thinking about?" She asked him. He shrugged.

"Nothing, just lying here. I can't remember the last time I did this. Just… relaxed, y'know?" He told her, sighing as he sat up, elbows supporting him while he looked at her. She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Yeah," she said breathily, looking at the ground with her hands on her hips, "trust me, I know." Then she got straight to business, remembering the task at hand. "So Raven came back, she wanted to talk with you and I." Peter just made a face of surprise and sat up further, flinging his legs off the bed then.

"Oh? Okay, you know what for?" He asked, voice notably wobbly from his short breakdown earlier. It made Allie's heart clench momentarily, wishing that they didn't have this mass of duty to take care of, for she'd stay to make sure that he was okay before anything.

"She didn't say," the girl told him, coming closer as he put his sneakers on. "Are you feeling a little better now?" Peter stared up at her, a small smile on his face.

"I'll be alright, I try not to always be a little bitch, but sometimes I just can't help but to let it show," he chuckled, the laugh fading to a groan almost as he rubbed a thumb over his brow. Allie just shook her head at him, sitting down beside the boy on the bed.

"It's okay to show a little emotion, don't ever think you gotta be this big ball of testosterone," she laughed while taking his hand, laying her head on his shoulder. "It never feels good to hide things away, so if you ever wanna talk about something that has you held up, just talk about it. I'll never, ever look at you any differently than what I've always done."

Peter sighed. "You have no idea how happy I am to have you."

Ten minutes later…

"What is taking them so long," Raven muttered, pacing in Charles' study impatiently.

"Don't know," the Professor said, hands interlocked in front of him in a brooding kind of way. Though that wasn't at all what he was doing. "Peter was quite upset earlier so perhaps he needed a little coaxing." Raven stopped and looked at the man, confused.

"Did something happen?" The woman asked.

"Well, right as Peter was about to tell Erik about their relation, he found out that Allie was with you at the rally, so he ran to go make sure she was okay. Now Erik left and the boy was unable to get his word in," Charles explained to Raven, the blonde's eyes stooping to look at the ground. She did feel a little bad for him, as he'd really been fighting to just tell Erik that he was his son, but she wasn't quite in the right mindset to sympathize at the moment.

Behind her, the study doors opened, prompting Raven to turn in hopes that it was finally Peter and Allie coming to join them. Instead, however, she was met with the sight of Hank slinking through the doorway shyly. As he caught her eye, he shot a small hand in the air to wave a childlike greeting towards the woman.

She just smiled curtly back, turning around to see Charles' dumbfounded expression in result of watching the Beast's weird behavior. Though after a moment the telepath remembered Hank's unrequited crush towards the woman that had started all the way back in the CIA involvement with the mutants. Back when things were… rather simple.

Back when Charles could walk. Back when he had his sister by his side. Back when he had Erik there too. Back when they were all just a big secret. It was all so far back in the past that it almost hurt for the Professor to think about how far away he was from the peace he used to own. Now it was just hardship after hardship, never ending no matter how viciously they fought back against the adversaries of life.

In that moment, Charles just wish that he could take a walk. He wished that he could move freely through the vast yard, climb the trees like he used to. Sit by the pond, beneath the shade of the looming, beautiful branches and leaves. Images of those very moments kept popping up in his mind, forcing a nostalgic sense to surround him.

He looked up then, finding Raven and Hank talking casually. She was actually smiling, still in her blonde form. It took him back to the moment the pair first met, when Hank was showing off his big, monkey-like feet off to all of them. She'd strode up to his hanging form, a sort of connection being made between them despite the events that would later occur, in which would due them part.

It was sad. It really was- how things had to go the way they did. Charles wished he could go back and do it all over. Some people would say that it was just how things had to happen, that you would eventually feel a mutual content for all the choices that you'd made. But no, the Professor hated what was happening around them. If he could go back holding the knowledge he knew now, the man was sure that things would be changed for the good at the point they were at then.

But when Peter and Allie strode into the room, hand in hand, Charles realized that though things may have gone well for him in such a repair of the past, it wouldn't have been the same for everyone else. If he'd gone back and fixed what needed to be fixed and returned to find that some of the greatest pairs were separated, he'd feel responsible.

Peter might not have been given the opportunity to see his dad. Allie might have been able to get away from Stryker, but she might not have been able to meet Peter.

He understood it then, how sometimes things just had to be the way they were. Because despite all the bad that was around them, there was still some good pocketed here and there, forever safe no matter the circumstances that continuously invaded it's stronghold.

"It appears we are all here," Charles said, having a newfound feeling of prosperity circulating within him. "So let's discuss whatever had you gather us all here, Raven." He gestured to the woman while everyone else gathered in a crude circle around her, anticipating the news she'd brought them.

Nodding, Raven thought of where to begin, and how to place her words carefully enough to stress how exactly important the information was. "I'll start by saying that my tie to this entire protest came with simply organizing it after being invited to do so. The morning before the ban was publicized, I was notified by a contact I have, Jonah," she then nodded towards Allie, knowingly, "that there was going to be some form of organized movement to serve as a backlash towards the new order. He was hired by Quincey, who is a well known business man that dabbles in politics though investments, to broadcast the information required to set the protest on it's course."

"Now," Raven, uncharacteristically, wrung her hands together in a form of nervous gesture. "I don't know Quincey very well. I've heard his name tossed around here and there, but nothing that was in the same bag as the topic of mutants. What I'm trying to get at is the fact that he was a very new figure, and I just had to trust him off the bat- bad idea."

"He staged that entire assassination, full well knowing that it would make the crowd go insane. But, Peter stopped it from happening, though the results were about the same…"

"How do you know it was staged?" Charles asked her, a dread lining his gut in the realization of yet another massive issue they had to take on now. Who else was going to?

"When Quincey fell back after being pushed away from Peter, one of the men behind him reached into his pocket and pulled a decently sized letter out. When I saw this happen, I thought it was a little… odd, I guess. Maybe it was just a gut feeling. But immediately the group on stage was ushered towards the nearest alley, and I knew that I had to figure out what was going on."

She turned around for a moment, walking towards the door then pacing back to them, thinking about her words. "The man who picked up the letters from Quincey, he was in the back of the group with me, so I took advantage of that and stole the papers right off of him without the guy knowing. Then I took off in the other direction, ran into where the riot police were, acted like I was just some innocent lady that got caught up with the mess and was able to get away." Then she pulled said papers from her pocket, lying them on Charles' desk for all to read, though she explained it's contents.

"It's an instruction manual for how that day was supposed to go. And by the way it was written, it sounds as if there were someone higher up who asked Quincey to do this," she told them, shaking her head at the morbid command of it. "Quincey and that man with the gun very well knew each other, and were okay with dying to get this mutant hate thing on it's feet."

"Sounds like Stryker to me," Allie muttered, crossing her arms as she leant into Peter's chest by the bookshelf, not being surprised if they were to find that the letter was written by the man himself. She'd never met anyone who hated mutants more.

"I thought the same thing," Raven replied, watching as Charles skimmed through what was on the pages.

After a few minutes, he finally set the letter down on his desk, sliding it towards Raven. There was a rather straight expression on his face as he did so, and the entire room was quietly waiting for what he'd say in reaction to the words.

Finally, "we need to do something about this," he obviously stated. Raven nodded.

"I already have Jonah snooping for some semblance of help or information. He should get back to me soon, but in the meantime I'm going to keep training the kids because I feel like we have something coming." Both Allie and Peter looked at each other nervously, hating the sound of yet another impending dispute that dealt with such things as mutant hate. Especially for Allie, as it was practically an engraved fear within her mind after the strenuous dealings that occurred to her personally.

Charles appeared close to satisfied with the answer, which was as good as they were going to get after hearing about the information the letter contained within.

"Right," he said curtly, rubbing aside his temple lightly. "Please make sure they're well conditioned for what might come." Raven nodded at his words and stiffly walked out of the office to see about extra training hours with their X-Men. Hank followed thereafter, having some research to attend to amongst other projects that he'd started- and needed to finish.

Peter and Allie were the last ones there, still standing in their places by the corner of the bookshelf, the boy's arm wrapped tightly around the girl. Neither knew quite what they wanted to say, but also were aware that there were words waiting on the tips of their tongues. Both were encompassed with feelings of dread, unknowing of the new storm to come and wipe away their sunshine.

"Charles?" Allie said, finally figuring it out. He looked up at her, having been so deep in thought that he'd forgotten they were both there. "Do you think… everything will be alright?" The fact that he couldn't tell her 'of course' was what scared Allie the most. Instead he bowed his head slightly and thought hard about it, truly wondering himself if their situation would ever change for the better. Even if he was unsure, he was afraid to tell the blonde the truth. So he went with:

"I'm sure it will be. We've always made it out alive, haven't we?" He smiled then, watching as Peter perked up, his arm pulling Allie from the shelf there and towards the door. Though she didn't wear a sense of hope due to his words, nor did she emit any emotion of relief; Charles realized she'd felt his fear of telling her his honest opinion.

He didn't mention it as they walked out together, leaving the Professor to now brood in his study.

Out in the hall, little ways down from the office doors, Peter paused. "No matter what happens," he said suddenly to Allie, causing her to turn confusedly towards him, "I want you to know that everything will be okay."

Allie sighed. "... okay." He wasn't done there, though.

"And if anyone here thinks that for one second that I'll live without you ever again, they're wrong. So if shit gets crazy, I want to know if you'll leave with me," Peter told her, holding Allie's shoulders tight in his grip. The disparity and need in his eyes were overcoming of what he morally understood to be right, and he didn't care. Neither did she.

Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was wrong. But their separation was far from right.

"Okay," she breathed out, stronger that time.

The kitchen…

Angel sat at the dinner table, quietly snacking on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Kurt raided the cabinets for another loaf of bread, since the blonde had finished the other one with the creation of his small meal.

"Check the big one o'er there," the boy said as he continued eating, watching the blue mutant huff and walk sassily towards the pantree on the far side of the room. Angel couldn't help but notice that maybe he was having a sway over Kurt's attitude, as the boy had been developing a little sprout of moodiness since they'd begun hanging out. Not that he was complaining, Angel really didn't mind the shy to outgoing transformation.

Kurt continued to root through all the foods that were contained within the walking spaced closet, though there didn't seem to be any bread in stock. "Have they no bread at all?" He moaned, stomping out of the pantree while his stomach growled loudly, calling for something to fill it's hungry needs. Angel shrugged, taking another bite of his sandwich before waving it in the open space between them.

"You want what's left of mine?" He asked Kurt, not wanting the boy to be deprived of the snack he wanted to make. The blue mutant hesitated a moment before reaching out and grabbing the sandwich, quickly taking little niblets out of it's crust.

"Thank you, God bless," he said, mouth full. Angel just nodded and looked down at his empty plate, surprised that he'd even given up his food in the first place. Perhaps _Kurt's_ mood was rubbing off on him as well. Oh, what a little mixture they've become.

From a little ways down the hall, there seemed to be echoes of a fight leading towards the two young men, who wished for nothing more than a quiet moment of eating.

"Stop calling me a fucking skank," a voice yelped as it came nearer to the archway entrance of the kitchen. What the hell?

"If you stop being one, maybe I will," a different one said, calmer but yet with a bitter undertone. It wasn't a second longer before two girls entered the kitchen, one carrying a couple grocery bags in her hands that she immediately laid out on the countertop. Then the other one, who bore no weights, looked curiously at both Kurt and Angel. The girl behind her began taking items from the paper bags and tossing them into different cupboards, a little angrily due to the yelling they'd last heard. "Who are you guys?"

Kurt made a face and continued to eat his sandwich, leaving Angel to do the talking in that conversation.

"I'm Angel and this is Kurt. You?" He said.

"Regan," the blonde one informed them curtly, a cynical frown on her face as she looked down at the two mutants from the slope of her nose. Behind her the brunette said:

"Martinique, nice to meet you," she turned from her short lived task to smile charmingly at them, folding the paper bags neatly before tossing them in the cabinet beneath the sink. Angel decided that he liked the one who appeared a little more friendly than the other. "Say, you guys in the X-Men?" Angel smirked and nodded, surprised that she had a sort of awestruck look on her face upon the confirmation.

"Sure are," he said, standing to put his plate in the sink, coming up beside Martinique.

"Wow, would you look at that, already trying to fuck him, aren't you?" Regan groaned, arms crossed as her head bobbed lazily to look at the girl beside her. Martinique just scoffed and crossed her arms right back, shooting a deathly glare at the blonde.

"No, it's called being nice. Maybe if you loosened up a little bit you'd get a hit between the legs. I know you only patronize me because you're jealous," the brunette fired back, causing Angel to slowly trot away from the pair and towards Kurt once more. Although neither boy made their leave, as they were a little bit invested in the show that was being performed before them.

"Oh I have nothing to be envious of. You're the one who's pissed that I know how to control our mutation, so the only way to make yourself feel better is by fucking every guy you pass," Regan spat, getting in the other girl's face.

"I don't fuck every guy I pass, I-" Regan laughed.

"Right, I mean every _other_ guy."

"No- you know what? Fuck you, you're the worst sister e-" suddenly Martinique stopped in her declaration, looking over her sister's shoulder towards the entryway. Though there appeared to be nothing there, she began talking to what seemed like someone right behind them. "Sorry Professor, I didn't mean to be loud… okay… I will."

There was a smirk on Regan's face as she patted the girl's shoulder, cooing at her to leave the room and continue her studies. "Listen to what the Professor says now, sis, go along and do your homework." The brunette fumed as she stomped out of the room, being sure to knock her sister's shoulder as she did so. Once Martinique had disappeared, Regan turned towards them with a little bit more of a becoming smile.

"See, I'm still the better mutant out of the two of us," she laughed, acting as though she was just a normal girl then. Angel figured the stress of being around Martinique was what had her so uptight like before as opposed to her newly chilled out behavior. "I can create illusions. Which, she can too, but I'm just better at it."

"Sweet," Angel said, realizing then that Regan must've made her sister see an illusion of Charles scolding her for being so disruptive. Seeming to be in a curious haze over the sudden events, the blonde boy absentmindedly hopped up onto the kitchen table. Kurt was quick to swat him off, however.

"People eat there," he muttered, taking the finishing bite of the sandwich that Angel had offered him. The blonde just rolled his eyes and pulled a chair out from the table instead, promptly sitting down. They were enveloped in a sort of awkward silence for a few moments until Regan gingerly walked towards the towards the door, ending whatever encounter they'd had.

"Uh, yeah. Nice meeting you guys, see you… around?" She said, very uncomfortably due to how abrupt their conversation from before had ended. Angel and Kurt both nodded from their places at the dinner table, the blue mutant smiling in a friendly way.

"You too, and maybe, who knows," he told her cheerily, waving at the girl's retreating figure after she tossed them a tight smile of her own. When they were sure she was down that hall, far enough from being able to hear them, Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes. "My goodness, a handful they are."

"They kinda remind me of us, y'know. 'Cept I don't call you a skank," Angel chuckled, not being able to imagine any part of Kurt being physically active in that sort of sense. The other boy cocked his head absentmindedly.

"And you can't use your mutation better than me," he added to the opposing similarities.

"Oh fuck off with that, you're startin' to sound more and more like me," the blonde groaned, becoming aware of the monster he'd created; though in a very nonliteral sense, that is. Kurt shook his head, mouth askew in a sort of pout.

"You feel you're not a good role model?" He asked, leaning against the table enough that he was hovering just above Angel, forcing the blonde to strain his head up to look at the other mutant evenly. He shrugged, not really thinking that the kind of guy who was enticed by some big blue bastard should really become anything slight of an idol.

"Probably not," the curly haired boy mumbled, having not wished to turn their little banter so serious. "I like you how you are. I really wouldn't wantcha turnin' into some dickwad like me." The blue mutant's brows furrowed, looking down at Angel with an incredulous expression.

"You're not bad like that," he tried convincing the blonde that he truly was not an awful person like he seemed to believe. How could he even possibly think that? Even after everything that had happened, he threw his dignity down a hole, right where his pride was too and returned to Charles' school, looking for a second chance. Angel didn't even know what sort of treatment he was going to receive once he hit the front lawn of the mansion, but Kurt knew that even if it was cruel, he'd have taken it like a man.

Someone who was able to set all that aside and not run away from the past was very honorable, at least in his opinion. And for Angel to think otherwise was absolutely stupid.

"Of course I am, I was an idiot. I was hurt and let some insane blue mutant seduce me into this ridiculous clan of people who looked to destroy everything," Angel couldn't help but ramble on, hands gesturing wildly in the open space before him. It wasn't until he stopped and peered up at the other boy did the blonde calm down.

"I'm blue," Kurt said, a small smile on his lips. Angel sighed, letting his head drop before lifting it back up, a smirk now planted there.

"Though you're not insane," the blonde countered. The Nightcrawler just shrugged in agreeance.

"Oh? But I'm seducing you?" He dropped the bomb, Kurt realizing what he'd said far too late to fix the statement. All he could do is pray that Angel didn't get weirded out by the sudden curveball that the blue mutant had just thrown his way.

The blonde looked up at Kurt, and open smile on his face as he tried to find an acceptable answer to his question. What… what was he even supposed to say?

"I-" why was he even tongue tied over it? "I guess… so?" The blue boy beside him let out a huffy chuckle, eyes seeming a little wide and worried as he did so. Angel didn't mention the observation though, still being a little wary of both the question and his answer to it. Kurt prodded his shoulder.

"Haven't had a girl in some time, have you?" He said uncomfortably to Angel, physically and internally grimacing when he realized he may have encouraged the boy to go out and get a girlfriend, much to his self disdain. The blonde shrugged limply though, seeming not too keen on the idea of that.

"No, not really my bag. Always end up catty like the two who waltzed in here earlier."

"So you like boys?" Kurt asked, really not caring anymore if he was blowing every chance he had to make their conversation casual once again. He wanted to know if this thing that he wanted with Angel would ever work out, because if not, he'd look somewhere else to bide his time.

"Umm," Angel's heart began beating faster for some reason. "I've never thought of that possibility, mate." He began getting a little red, having not been questioned about that sort of thing before. Especially in regards to his personal preference. He'd dated like, two and a half girls before. And then that was it. So in all actuality, Angel really didn't even go into relationships all too often as it was.

"Hm, neither have I," Kurt said casually, deciding that he was tired and he'd work on their little sprout of mixed emotions after a nap. "It might not be so bad. Anyway, I think I'll go take a nap." Then he was making his exit just like Regan had: awkwardly.

"Right, see you later," Angel called to the blue mutant as he watched him disappear around the corner. He could help but to feel a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Hm," he huffed.

"Maybe."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty- Eight

 _I'm kinda thinking about changing the title of the story, so if you guys like, see some new changes, that'd be it. Also, I wrote this when I was really young (like years ago- when Days of Future Past came out- then I waited for Apocalypse to continue it further) and I've been hesitating continuing this story in particular, because I feel like I might want to rewrite it to be a bit more mature. I know this one may have some charm in the fact that it's a little more fluff than it is drama, but I tried too hard to not scrap it in the beginning of revising my seventh grade writing and it just turned into a story with bleak action and then a sloppy addition of detail on top of it. But I don't know… if any of you are even interested then I guess let me know. I apologize for the long hiatus of this chapter, I've just been sitting on the idea of a new version of this for the longest time, among just personal issues that I've been trying to get by. Obviously the story would be the same, maybe some new developments here and there. Though certainly much more detail and hidden moments in between events will be revealed in this one._

 _But yeah, that's what's going on right now. Maybe you guys like, don't even care what happens with it and y'all just read this entire story for shits and giggles- then that's cool, y'know. So uh, yeah. I'll continue to write back and forth between the upcoming chapters for This story and I'll dabble in with the other, more revised one. Again, sorry for the really long time between last update, I've literally turned into what I hate most with that._

 _Please, though, enjoy this chapter._

The pair stood in the middle of the training room once again, finally receiving their long awaited second lesson in the art of hand to hand combat. Raven, as soon as the issue with Quincey's plan had blown over, decided it was time to get everyone well prepared for a fight that was on the horizon. Soon enough, she felt rather dully, they'd be basked in another shadow of terror.

"Alright, since last time we were cut really short, I'll have you both do the same thing. Three minutes, no powers. Go," Raven told them, holding a stopwatch in her hand tensely as she sent them on their way to a small skirmish.

Allie eyed Peter up as she got in a defensive position, holding her fists in front of her face gingerly while he did the same. The girl knew that he wouldn't make the first move to attack her, but rather wait until she stumbled in towards him. It's what he did last time and she expected him to continue the pattern.

"Twenty seconds in guys," the blue woman behind the pair said impatiently. The blonde flung herself forward on cue, jacking her leg out to hook around Peter's while she took her fists away from her face, choosing to break his block by forcing her hands beneath his elbows and up to his chin. Firmly, she grabbed his neck as they fell to the ground. Once the boys back made contact with the mat, Allie pulled her leg from his and used both her knees to pry his arms away from hers; successfully, she was able to keep him from stopping her constricting hands.

Though, the blonde forgot how much bigger Peter was than her, and was surprised when he abandoned trying to grab her arms and instead latched his hands onto her waist. Easily, the boy was able to jam her legs from his sides, enough that she didn't have any hold on him and could push her off of his body. Allie semi-purposefully left her hold on his neck go, not wanting to hurt him as he threw her onto her back.

"Why do you always get the upper hand?" She muttered, feeling him press himself flat against her body, hands already holding the girl's wrist in a deadly grip. Peter just smirked, not thinking that Allie would be able to free herself by sliding her legs from his hips and forcing them on the insides of his legs, hooking her ankles around his calves and pulling them sharply apart.

Peter gasped loudly as he was put into a split position, immediately sliding himself off of Allie while he reached down to protectively hold his center. As Raven called time, the blonde guiltily hovered over her boyfriend, a sympathetic smile on her lips.

"Oh, Allie," he groaned raspily. "I hope you didn't want kids."

"I think I'd have to hit you pretty hard for that to be out of the picture," she told him, kneeling to rub his neck while grabbing the boy's upper arm in order to help him up. Though he just stayed on the ground for a few moments longer, not too sure if he could stand on his own two feet quite yet.

He chuckled dryly. "It feels like you really don't have to think about doing that. Like, at all." Allie just shrugged at his statement and sat beside Peter, peering up expectantly at Raven. The woman was watching them carefully, the smallest of smiles on her face. Though it was wiped immediately away once she'd caught the blonde spying on her, having not wanted to show the small sliver of humanity that she contained. Especially not in training when she was supposed to be the hard ass teacher everyone made her out to be.

"Alright guys," the woman sighed, "go grab some gloves and let's get down to business."

 _Two hours later…_

That was one fucking long, grueling session.

"Damn," Peter panted, walking out of the small locker room that had been made for the X-Men during the reconstruction of the school. Allie had been waiting for him by the door, wanting to go and grab lunch with the boy after they got showers and were freshened up from the hours of fighting each other. Some training they got; more basic training. "That was intense. More tough than fighting robots, if I'm being honest."

Allie hummed thoughtfully. "I guess so, I've never seen you breath so hard," she commented on his rapid inhales and exhales, finding it a little strange to watch him seem so… fatigued. Sure she'd seen him in need of sleep here and there, but he was never put on his knees for it.

"Heh, yeah I can think of one other time," he laughed, looking towards the ceiling in thought before cocking his head down towards Allie, a mischievous smile on his lips when he realized she had no clue what he was talking about.

"What? When?" She breathed out with a laugh, looking up at him with furrowed brows. Peter only raised his own, walking forward to open up the training room exit before holding it wide for the girl to go through. She followed him out into the cold, metallic corridor that clashed with their hot bodies, still unknowing of what he was getting at.

"Maybe you were enjoying yourself too much to notice," he quipped, walking towards the staircase (specified by Hank, as we all know) that would lead them back into the school. Peter could only purse his lips as he waited patiently for Allie to realize that he was talking about them sleeping together; rather… blatantly if you asked him.

The girl opened her eyes wide, an even wider smile on her face as she dug deep within her mind to recall a moment where the things that he was talking about had occurred. She lifted her fingers, holding one up as she mouthed off what he'd said.

"So the one other time where you were actually like, breathing hard. A time where I was enjoying myself too much to notice… and we were together. What… oh wait… you don't mean- oh come on Peter," she scolded the boy as she realized just what he was going on about, slapping his shoulder playfully. After a moment of their shared laughter, she brought the topic up again. "Is that the only thing you remember? You breathing hard as of personal record?"

Peter scoffed. "Of course not, but we were a little buzzed from those beers so it's a bit fuzzy." He wouldn't forget a moment of their little encounter though, as he knew that it was both of their first times. Though it was a little more casual than if they'd been back in high school together or something. They were just adults doing what adults did, he supposed.

"Hm, good for you. I don't remember shit," she sighed.

"Probably for the best," he muttered.

"What, why?" Allie questioned, taking it as a bad thing that he'd rather her not remember what had happened. A million thoughts went through her head, wondering if she'd been a bad experience for him. Had she been too drunk to keep going or something? Did he not like her… like that?

"Nothing bad, you just… you kinda… cried- or at least welled up. Cause it hurt, y'know," he explained hurriedly, feeling a little awkward to be explaining it to her, having thought that Allie had remembered it all along. She seemed to know what all went down the next morning after it had happened, so he just assumed that she'd been sober enough to understand what was going on in the moment. But he guessed not, then.

"Oh… right," Allie sighed. "You… liked it, right?" Peter made a face at both how uncomfortable he felt in that conversation and the sudden insecurity that she was undergoing.

"No- what the hell?" He laughed quickly, throwing an arm over the blonde's shoulder in a reassuring way. "Of course I liked it. Don't get down on yourself about that kinda stuff." Why on earth would he not like being with the most pretty and smart girl in the world? Allie shrugged, grabbing Peter's hand that had been rested on her shoulder, watching as they neared the teaching hallway.

As they strolled casually through, a class in front of them was dismissed, and from the crowd emerged Angel, walking alone. Allie wondered where Kurt was, since the pair were like glue nowadays.

"Heyyyy, well if it isn't the star couple," the blonde boy called out, immediately spotting his friends leisurely making their way towards the second floor steps. Allie and Peter both stopped near the far wall, smiling at Angel's approaching figure.

"If this school had a year book, we'd be senior picks for class sweethearts," Peter smirked, sliding his arm off of Allie's shoulder to cross it with his other. Angel thought about it, narrowing his eyes at the mutant with a knowing look.

"We should really pass that idea by the Professor," he said before catching sight of Peter's shirt, the red word Rush being printed on it, symbolizing the band. Angel huffed, looking up at the boy. "Well ain't that fuckin' ironic."

"Allie!" A voice called from far off in the adjoining hallway. The girl made a face, looking over Angel's shoulder to see the fluorescent sight of Kurt loitering in front of a class, arm raised in a beckoning gesture.

"Mm, I'll be right back," the girl said to the two mutants, jogging down towards Kurt's strangely placed position.

"Alrighty then," Peter sighed, watching as Angel's face turned serious. Okay, was something wrong? "You good?"

The blonde boy hesitated for a moment, crossing his arms like Peter had, trying to decide whether or not he wanted anyone else to know about his inner debacle. Though after a couple seconds of immense contemplation, Angel figured that Peter was probably one of his closest friends there, and would be more of a helping hand than anyone else.

"Yeah… so like, have you ever had a guy hit on you?"

Another class let out beside them, Martinique and Jubilee scrambling out the door first, attempting to flee their studies while full well knowing a lunch break was following their schedule's next block. The girls began heading towards the building's kitchen when Martinique spotted Angel down the hall, talking with another guy. She stopped in her beeline to admire the work of art that was the young man who her acquaintance was speaking with.

The (weak) illusionist put her hand out, stopping Jubilee from walking any further.

"Who is he?" She asked her friend in a desperate kind of way, not being able to take her eyes off of the silver haired mutant so dreadfully far away from them. Jubilee squinted, recognizing him as Peter, who she'd seen with that one blonde girl. Aleah, or something?

"I think his name is Peter, but I'm also thinking that he's extremely taken," the girl said frankly, not expecting her friend to give zero shits about the fact.

"If there's one thing that I've learned with boys, it's that they are never taken." Then she took a step forward, released a confident breath, flung her hair over her shoulder and walked towards the two mutants with a purpose. As she approached, Martinique found that he was even more handsome up close, completely ignoring the unappreciative brow he raised her at interrupting their conversation.

"Oh, hey… uh Mar- Martin… ique?" Angel greeted the girl, unsure if he'd remembered her name quite right. She wasn't paying him any mind though, and was instead looking in Peter's soul, using her little telepathic ability to see what he liked in a girl. She was able to pick up on blonde hair, brown eyes but nothing much else, otherwise Martinique would appear a little awkward, having not said anything in introduction to them yet.

"Hi Warren-" Angel made a face.

"How do- that's- I've never told anyone my name," he sputtered out, staring at the girl in annoyance and confusion. He didn't really want anyone to know that. Martinique seemed to care little of the fact that she'd dropped his real name, in which she had found out about when talking to him the day before. Every guy she met was succumbed to her pesky little curiosities, fulfilled typically by her telepathy.

"Sorry, my sister told me. I guess she'd looked through your head," the brunette laughed apologetically, blaming Regan who was innocent, full well knowing that she didn't tell Martinique shit; less expose some random mutant's real name.

He only seemed to be irritable about it for a second longer, sighing when he figured that it was one big 'whatever.' Why did he have to worry about a name?

"Alright, well, just tell 'er to stay out of my head, okay?" He told Martinique, putting his hands within his pockets timidly, not really wanting to cause trouble with the two sisters. The brunette just shrugged and turned straight away to Peter, smiling up at him in a flirty sort of way, hoping that she'd be able to get through to him.

"Hi, I'm Martinique," she greeted him breathily, having Marilyn Monroe's voice in the back of her mind as a form of reference. Peter just cringed at the fact that he knew this girl was about to hit on him, while Angel took a step closer to her.

"Are you okay? Ya sound like you're 'bout to pass out," the blonde asked, seeming to pick up on the exaggerated way her voice was light and barely given any kick. It sounded like she was gonna faint any second there. Martinique turned towards him, a slight scowl on her face as she reassured him that she was fine.

"Yeah," she told him, stepping over so that now her back was towards Angel and Peter was a mere couple inches before her. "I just started going to school here. My dad's a math teacher now." The boy in front of her just nodded, face contorted in something that Angel could only describe as extremely uncomfortable as he watched what was going down before him.

"Cool…" Peter mumbled, mentally trying to reach out for Allie, hoping that maybe she'd be able to hear him. As he looked up, the gray haired boy spotted his girlfriend in an invested conversation with Kurt, wishing that he'd be able to make eye contact with her. Allie. Allie! ALLIE! He called out through the telepathic void, mentally beseeching whoever was listening that in some way she'd be able to hear him with the little skill she had in mind reading.

"So, are you single?" Martinique questioned him, going straight to the point. Jesus Christ, ALLIE! Peter practically begged for the girl to hear his imagined cries, hoping that she'd at least turn and see his dire situation.

"No. No I'm not single," he told her monotonously, finally seeing Allie perk up as she heard his voice reverberate in her mind, sounding rather urgent. When the blonde spotted him standing awkwardly with the mystery girl before him, she immediately was spiked with a sense of protectiveness over her man.

"Hold on Kurt, I'll be back in a second," Allie told the blue mutant, wishing she could continue their little chat but was so rudely interrupted with this scantily clad girl talking to Peter. She wore a ridiculously short pair of denim cut offs that stopped just below her butt, then a thin tank top that said Party Lovers on it. Allie just mentally scoffed, nearing her wide eyed boyfriend. Whoever the girl was, she seemed so classy. "Hey, you soon ready to go out?"

As soon as Allie approached Peter, she grabbed his hand and began pulling him away. The boy nodded vigorously, seeming completely fine with being led from the rather aggressive girl who'd been all but pouncing on him.

"Yep," he squeaked, watching as Martinique immediately glared at Allie, knowing that it must've been his girlfriend. The brunette took a demanding sort of step forward, grabbing ahold of Peter's wrist in a vise.

"Who's this?" She asked sweetly, loosening her grip when she realized that he seemed to be hurting a little bit from it, judging by the grimace upon his face. Or maybe that was just her hitting on him. "Your girlfriend?"

Peter nodded, roughly pulling his hand away from the brunette's grasp in irritation of her behavior. Allie seemed to notice, becoming quite agitated with the audacity of whoever the girl was.

"Yeah, I'm Allie. His girlfriend. Who are you?" The blonde asked promptly, not really giving a shit but at the same time wanting to at least know the name of the girl that was trying to desperately go out with Peter. That way if there was any issues, she'd know who to bitch about.

"Martinique," she said with a snotty looking face, peering down at Allie's hands in a critical sort of way. "What's that all over your hands?" Peter looked down, remembering the girl's black stained fingertips with a sort of grimace, knowing the story behind them.

"My mutation," Allie said in short. Martinique just hummed and crossed her arms.

"It's kinda revolting," she said smugly, like she was proud of herself. Allie couldn't believe the words coming out of the girl's mouth. Like, seriously? Who even goes as far as to say the things that she was? It's the kind of petty words that you'd find in exaggerated literature, or something. Allie hadn't ever encountered a girl that was as awful as this one.

"Excuse me?" She said, putting a hand on Peter's chest to push him out of her way, allowing Allie to get in Martinique's face. "You know what's revolting? You. You are being a blatant asshole and I haven't done anything to you." With every word the blonde grew closer to the other girl, until her finger was just a hair widths away from her over exposed chest. Martinique stood her ground however, not caring that she was being a bit difficult.

"I'm not being an asshole," the illusionist cooed, a little pout on her face before it turned into a grin. "I'm just trying to fathom how a guy like him could like a girl like you." Allie furrowed her brows and shook her head, taking a step back while laughing at how ridiculous their situation was.

"What? Like… maybe I'm trying to fathom how aggressive you're being towards me because you aren't going to be getting any dick from my boyfriend!" Allie said loudly, turning a lot of heads in their direction, making Peter shrink down a little, wide eyed.

"Allie-" he said before being cut off.

"Shut up! This bitch thinks that she can throw a fit because she can't have every guy she looks at," the blonde mutant seethed.

"Who gives a shit, I'll have him in bed with me soon enough. Who would wanna stay with your crazy ass anyway?" Martinique sighed, looking down at her hot pink nails for a moment before peering maliciously back up to Allie. The blonde was going to hit her. She was going to hit her. Hard. Real hard.

"You certainly look like you're devoted to long and committed relationships," Allie told her, nearing once again. Martinique scoffed.

"Don't even try, I was with a guy for five years. Eighth grade through senior year. How about you? Hm?" The girl unnecessarily explained the details of her first real relationship, hoping to make a point. Even though, she constantly cheated on him. But in the end they always came back to each other so it was fine.

"I wouldn't fucking know, I didn't graduate," Allie sputtered, flinging her arms out.

"Wow, so you're a little bitch and dumb."

 _Slap._

Martinique's head made contact with the wall she'd been leaning up against, having not expected at all that Allie would actually hit her. She held her face protectively, the first thought in her mind being that she hoped there wasn't any mark there.

"If only you fucking knew," Allie whispered, turning around to grab Peter's arm, leading him away from the tension that had just broken out a mere couple minutes before.

If only she knew.

 _A few minutes later…_

"Sorry for telling you to shut up," Allie apologized to Peter as she fell back onto their bed, feeling exhausted from both the training and the short fight she got into. The boy just sighed from the far wall that he was bracing himself against as he took off his shoes, tossing them lazily to their laundry littered floor. He wasn't at all mad at her, in fact, Peter was glad that she had given that girl a piece of her mind. It was kind of funny, really, as the blonde never got into disputes quite like that.

He came up to the bed and crawled in, throwing his stuffy shirt off to cool down for a second. "It's alright, glad you did cause that twat deserved to be put down a notch." Allie made a face and turned on her side to better look at Peter.

"Twat?" She asked, brow raised. "You've been hanging out with Angel too much." Laughing, Allie fell back and sank into the mattress, closing her eyes for a mere second before Peter remembered his conversation with Angel.

"Hey, so like, he actually came up to me and sorta said that he might… be… gay?" Peter told the other mutant while cocking his head, trying to work through the jumbled words that the ex-horseman had been telling him prior to the appearance of Martinique. He basically said that Kurt had been acting a little bit 'flamboyantly', which was his own words, and that the blue mutant was getting continuously flirty on a level that was no longer joking.

This seemed to mean a great deal to Allie, who had been trying to desperately console Kurt once he'd confessed to her that he didn't think Angel was too keen on having any form of relationship with him. Well. Now things have changed very rapidly for their situation.

"Wait, really? What'd he tell you?" She asked quickly, jumping from her lying position to lay close beside Peter, eyes wide in excitement. He seemed startled for a moment, not expecting such a reaction to the statement.

"He just said that Kurt hitting on him and he really didn't mind it," Peter shrugged, then looked over at the girl who was practically hunched over him in anticipation. "Why so hell bent on it?"

Allie laughed for a moment and relaxed, knowing that she was demolishing Peter's space. "It's just… Kurt has been like, crushing on Angel before he even showed back up at school." The gray haired boy's eyes widened and he made a face, having not expected that at all. In fact, he wondered if Kurt had been still feeling those emotions even when they were fighting over in Apocolypse's wonderland of destruction. That'd be a really weird mixed signal to read.

"Huh," was all he said, surprised face fixed to his expression as he stood up from the bed. "Welp, I'm gonna get a shower… maybe you should tell Kurt about this whole thing," he offered while moving towards the bathroom door slowly. Allie nodded but paused when she realized she stank as much as Peter did from their earlier lesson in combat training. She wouldn't be going anywhere just yet, at least not before she got a shower as well.

"Yeah, well, I need a shower too, so I'll wait till you get out," she told him, lying casually back in bed while eyeing up the magazines that sat in a stock pile beside their end table. Though it appeared that Peter had different ideas.

"I mean… we could just take one together," he told her quietly, like he really didn't think that she'd say yes to the offer.

Allie just stared at him for a moment before smiling a little, standing to join him by the door.

She'd tell Kurt eventually.

 _The dining room…_

"Dude, that was so dumb," Jubilee sighed, eating the sandwich that she'd made herself for lunch that day, not expecting to be scolding her friend while enjoying it. Seriously though, what on earth made Martinique think that she could possibly try to hit on Peter, full well knowing that he was in a relationship with someone else? It almost made Jubilee question whether or not she really wanted to be the brunette's friend anymore. She'd rather not associate herself with someone like that.

Martinique scowled, purposefully moving her hair so that the red hand print on the side of her cheek was entirely exposed to anyone who walked by. She wanted someone to ask about it, so then she could rip Allie's name to shreds. But first she was waiting for her dad to come by and deal with it. Did that little bitch know who Martinique was? She could have her kicked out of the school.

"What's dumb is that fact that she slapped me. I'll make sure daddy takes care of her for it," the brunette mumbled through blowing a pink bubble out of her gum, choosing not to eat over the aggravation that was still churning within her.

"Yeah," Jubilee huffed out. "But I'd slap a girl too if she was coming at my boyfriend like that. I'm just saying that you'd probably do the same exact thing to some other chick." Martinique wasn't having it though. She didn't care what she would do. She didn't care what situation it was. She didn't care how hypocritical she might have been acting.

What she did care about was a boy and definitely not a fucking girl.

"It doesn't matter, Lee, I don't give two shits about that," she scowled into the table, impatiently waiting for her father to leave his break period to come see her. It wasn't long until she could hear his thunderous footsteps come down the hallway, directly towards the big dining room they sat within. Martinique turned with a smile on her face, "hi daddy!"

He seemed a bit tired… or perhaps displeased to see his more problematic daughter. Either way, he answered her greeting with a monotonous, "hey princess."

Jubilee just looked at the man a little suspiciously, not really liking his tall figure that seemed to bore no positivity. His hair was straight black, little bits of white coming from his small sideburns. And his eyes weren't bright like his daughters but dark and gloomy. He just sort of seemed out of place in both looks and attitude.

"Something happened," Martinique said, hoping that he'd convey some sort of worry over her. Though all she got was a sighed:

"What did, Marty?"

"A girl hit me," she told him bluntly, making the man appear a little more involved with whatever she was telling him now.

"Wait what? Who hit you?" He asked, suddenly with much more care and consideration than what he'd been displaying just mere seconds before.

"Allie Simmons." Oh, game on bitch.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty- Nine

 _Heyyyyyyyy, so this is the next chapter- obviously. We've got some cute stuff that's not exactly Peter and Allie but also our fave telepath. Also we have a short appearance of our fave illusionist: Martinique… gotta love her… sorry that was painful to say. Every time I have to put myself into like, some bitchy mindset in order to get her dialogue correct, I literally want to jump out a window. And that goes for honestly everything that has happened in this story. I'm constantly having to torture my little protagonists to create the drama element and it's such a pain. But right now this chapter and the next are about taking breaks and helping each other out, so we all will be able to relax and just enjoy the personalities of the story for a short time._

 _Also, thank you Emilee and my elusive Guest for reading the story and giving your positive feedback on the last chapter (and of course thank you to all who have given your reviews; it's much appreciated and is what keeps me going on this project). I'll of course keep updating this particular story, as I'm going to use it as a sort of outline for the revised one after the next X-Men movie comes out. Since that one, I think, is going to sort of be a more conclusive film, I'll be able to find a good place to end this story. Don't worry though! I love sequels as much as the next guy, so you can bet your ass that'll be in the future of Allie and Peter's adventure, need there be an end to this one. Though I'm very unsure as to where they're headed at this point in time, so I'll just play around with the different issues I have running through the storyline right now._

 _On another note, Martinique's father is Jason Wyngarde, who is also known as Mastermind. For a little while there I was looking to introduce new characters that weren't just made up ones, like Stacey was, for example. So I came across Regan Wyngarde and delved far enough to discover her other family members, Martinique and Jason. I really enjoyed the chemistry I was coming up with, as well as ideas as to how the characters would interact with each other, so I decided why not add them into the quarrel. Of course, there was some other **reasons** Jason would be a fine addition… but we shall get there eventually. _

_We have too many kidnappings and riots going on to handle yet another issue, and like I said, these next chapters are gonna be chill. So anyways, I've yapped enough, please enjoy the story thus far._

Charles, who had encountered many people in his life, had never met anyone so ignorant before. It could be comical to him if not for the fact that he needed to treat his students respectfully- especially under the idea that this one in particular had a father in the staff. They needed all the help that they could gather, and losing Jason's expertise in various teaching subjects would definitely hurt them.

"She started it, I was just trying to like, state my opinion," Martinique defended herself sorely, Charles having already watched the scenario that had occurred through and through took her words with a grain of salt. He understood why Allie got angry, as he knew the depth of her agony with the 'mutation' comment. Had it not been for that level of malice on Martinique's part, he truly didn't think that the blonde would've done anything as drastic as slapping the other girl.

Though, the Professor did indeed think that in either sense the brunette deserved what was given to her. Unfortunately he had to keep his personal opinions scattered in the back of his mind as there were quite a few telepathically inclined mutants within his presence at that very moment. Being a biased man was not a part of a leader's code.

"Martinique," he said lightly, but sternly. "Do not lie." Mr. Wyngarde just closed his eyes in exhaustion and sighed out his nose, full well knowing the deception that his daughter was capable of; through an unsuccessful degree, of course. He wished that she'd think about the importance of being before the man who could do the impossible with just a thought alone. Lying to him- and thinking that she could get away with it- was not a good impression, by any means.

Not that she'd ever done anything different in her life, her father only wished that one day she'd snap out of whatever sort of rebellion that was taking her over. Left and right she would cry out about some situation that, after some evaluation from him, was clearly her fault. But he did what he could to help as he did love his daughter to bits and would do anything to protect her.

Thoughts in mind, Jason turned to her, "please don't do this now." She just looked at him with a frown, rolling her eyes upon looking back to Charles.

"Okay," she pouted. "You probably saw what happened, I guess. So let's hear what you have to say."

Allie, who was also present at that time, smirked and silently paraded in the fact that she was probably going to be let off the hook. It was about time Martinique would be put into her place… she'd likely gotten away with much grander bullshit before.

"Both of you will be serving consequence for this altercation," was Xavier's final verdict. Allie's mouth made a petite 'o' shape while Martinique simply stared at her manicured nails. Jason, in the corner, nodded to himself and figured that there wouldn't be any sort of grueling task to be given. Maybe hall duty or something simple as that. "The books in the library… they haven't been sorted in quite some time. I would like for the both of you to put them in alphabetical order. Let's say you work on it… two hours a day."

Well, that certainly didn't capture any sort of delight from anyone in the room.

"Niiiiiice," Allie muttered while scuffing her shoes on the carpet.

"So are we done here?" Martinique asked in a despondent tone. Charles nodded curtly, watching as the daughter and father duo made their exit. He looked up to Allie as the door closed, instantly smiling apologetically.

"I'm sorry for having to put this on you too," he admitted in remorse, though he knew that such fits would be thrown if he punished only Martinique. Allie sighed before allowing a smirk to creep up on her face.

"Don't worry about it, I used to file papers for my teachers sometimes back in high school," she reassured him. Xavier appeared more relaxed then and leaned back in his wheelchair.

"I apologize for what she said to you- about your fingers… and everything that stands behind that." Allie was taken aback slightly by the warm gesture, but was quick to shut down any apology on Charles' behalf. What had gone down was definitely not his fault in any way, shape or form.

She laughed. "Do be sorry Charles, and as for what she said, well, yeah that sucked. But it was only words." He lifted his fingers slighting from the desk top.

"Your hand in her face wasn't, so be them words, they still stung. You can't tell me otherwise," he staked his claim, knowing that it affected Allie more than what she was letting on. Seeming to realize that she too couldn't hide what was being revealed by her thoughts, the girl decided it was better to be honest that bottle up the feelings.

"Hmm, yeah, you're right. It's just more so the fact that she doesn't know. Like, she doesn't know what all happened and I don't want other people to look at me like she does," the blonde explained in a sort of nervousness over what other's opinions were of her. In fact, as she went on, she was kind of getting choked up. "I just wish people would be more considerate. I've dealt with this before- these kinds of people. That was my school career before shit hit the fan, but now I've been broken on the inside and out."

Charles couldn't help but feel the waves of sadness and insecurity that were being released off of her with strong pulsations. It put him in her shoes, almost forcing a tear or two to fall from his ever moistening eyes.

"I used to be strong enough to handle that sort of thing. Like I said, just words. Now it's words that hurt the most because I've endured the torture brought on by evil and actions may speak louder but when their words are that cruel- it's torture too." She had to stop herself as she was only getting worked up about it, realizing it when she needed to wipe away a few tears from her cheeks.

It was silent for a long moment before Charles answered, "and that is why I'm sorry. I know the pain that you go through but you are also right when you say they're just words. But that doesn't stop the hurt that follows them, meaningful or not. You lace a teddy bear or an arrow with poison and shoot it at someone, it'll still cause damage." Allie laughed at the last comment.

"Lacing a teddy bear with poison? I need to try that," she mumbled the latter statement. Xavier cocked his head in a disapproving manner, though didn't speak on it as a smile caught his words. Yeah that was a weird comparison, but thinking on the fly didn't always supply the greatest of analogies. "Um, thank you, Charles. For a lot, actually. You've been there for me and Peter for quite a while."

"This painfully sounds like a goodbye," the telepath observed. Allie shrugged.

"Well I was gonna leave to go to my room after this," she retorted.

"Ah, aside from that, you're welcome, Allie. It's been a pleasure from the start and I hope that we continue the trend until the end," he smiled.

"Don't go making me cry now," the blonde giggled. Charles only smirked further.

"We've certainly found the true power of words then, haven't we?"

"I think so…"

 _The next day…_

"This is really lame," Peter said with a stack of books in his arms, struggling to get low enough to the ground to set them down without the pile falling over in the process. They'd just begun to labor through Allie's two hour period of organizing all the books; quickly it became a massive pain in the ass.

Though luckily for them, everyone decided to pitch in. Scott, Jean, Kurt, Angel and Peter all figured they might as well help Allie make some progress in the huge library. They couldn't just stand there and watch he take on a punishment she didn't deserve, and at the same time didn't want to leave the mess to Martinique because they knew then that the task would never be accomplished.

"That is definitely no lie, mate," Angel sighed while slapping down a couple books, being in charge of putting the 'B' pile in order. As things were coming together, Jean would whisk the novels up onto the shelves using her telekinesis. Everyone else just simply filed through the books and organized them to the best of their abilities. Scott, who had a tough time remembering the order of the alphabet, had to keep rehearsing it's jingle until he came to the letters he needed to know the location of.

"Wait, wait, what comes first again? M or N?" He asked everyone, too lazy to repeat his ABCs in order to discover the answer.

"M," they all replied in unison. He nodded in thanks and kept going along with his task, tossing a couple of large books off his pile with a thud.

After another ten minutes of silent working, Peter huffed and looked to both Kurt and Angel. "Look, I can get this done pretty quick. I just need you guys to help get all of these books off their shelves, then I can do some speedy sorting. And then Jean can get them up for us." The duo nodded in compliance and began reaching for all the stories they could hold; Jean herself worked to both put books back and take the unsorted ones off the shelves.

No ten minutes later all the books were on the ground, taking up pretty much of the surface area of the library's floor. Peter smiled and looked to everyone, hands on his hips like a superhero preparing to fix the mess left up to him.

"Thanks, I'll probably be done in like, three minutes. So go have a snack break or something," he told the rest of the mutants, elbow propped up on a tall stack of books which caused it to fall over. "Well, now I'm going to have to make that three minutes and two seconds."

"Nice one," Allie chuckled while stiffly standing up, stretching out enough for her back to crack. Everyone else around them began heading out to the kitchen to make lunch, though Allie stayed for a moment. When the rest of the mutants were absent from the room, she strode up to Peter and put her arms around his neck, laying her head upon his chest with closed eyes. He embraced her back, resting his chin atop her blonde hair. "Thanks for helping me," she said in gratitude.

He smiled and rubbed her back. "Of course, it's honestly nothing for me to sort through all of it. I've gone through worse things." Allie shrugged from beneath his arms.

"I mean, so have I," she told him. Peter just chuckled.

"Well yeah, but you deserve a break."

"Well yeah," she copied him. "But you deserve a break _too_." Okay, so was this some sort of battle of who was going to be pampered the most?

" _Well yeah_ ," Peter drawled out, pulling away from Allie to look her in the eyes pointedly. "But _you_ deserve a break _more_." There was a short moment of silence as they both stared at each other before neither could keep a straight face any longer, and the room was filled with their laughter.

Allie pulled away, almost accidentally running into another stack of books had it not been for Peter speedily grabbing her from the minor disaster. It was there that the couple was broken up from their brief minutes of fun when they both noticed that Charles was loitering in the doorway. The two mutants turned to face the Professor, questioning thoughts leaning into his telepathy.

"I couldn't help but overhear your playful argument over the void," the man sighed with a smile, moving forward slightly before realizing it'd be a mistake to try and meander through the city of books surrounding them. He'd be much better off not making a complete fool of himself; in fact, Charles had a collected reputation to keep- not a clumsy one. "So I came to visit, naturally."

The couple smirked. "Yeah, Peter's gonna speed through the work that Martinique hasn't come by to help with," Allie informed the Professor, not hesitating to throw that bitch under the bus. Charles frowned and made a sort of snorting noise in lack of amusement.

Waving his hand dismissively, he said, "of course. Just leave the books as is and I'll have her come down and do the rest. You've already gone a completed a good deal of it already." Peter made an exaggerated sigh of relief, bending his knees slightly as he did so.

"Thaaank Goood," he cried out, as if it was going to be a great deal of pain for him to do what he said would only take a mere three minutes to accomplish. "You have no idea how happy I am, Professor."

Charles just made a face at the boy's antics and turned to look at Allie. "So I heard that you deserve a break," he said with a contemplative smirk. It made him look younger, like when Allie had first met him back in the seventies. Something about the thought made the blonde double back mentally, having not expected the rush that came with the form of deja vu she was experiencing. The image she received was of Charles who walked up the ramp onto the private jet in which would take them to Paris. He was smiling down at her in thanks for what they had done in the Pentagon, all the while reassuring the girl of the help that she offered.

Allie remembered standing there, apologizing for her lack of aid and telling him that she'd give him anything he needed in the future. And right there in that moment, Allie felt like he needed her help. She didn't get to see that younger smile from him often, because he was overloaded with so much trouble due to everything that was going on. All she wanted was to see him happy, and she felt that he found those short moments by being around her and Peter's positive energy. Why else would he come curiously into the library after sensing their banter?

"Yeah… say, Charles, you wouldn't want to… like, come and get away for a weekend with us, would you?"

Being a telepath and all, Allie was surprised by how unexpected the Professor seemed after she made the proposition. Even he seemed surprised.

"I- well- I have a lot of responsibility here," he countered in a way that she could tell he hated the fact. He actually began to try and talk his own self out of saying no. "Though surely the school full of powerful mutants could protect itself… except it got blown to bits once and everyone would've died had it not been for you." He gestured to Peter, who just timidly smiled while they both waited for the man's final answer.

"It was just a simple question, you can certainly say no if it'll be too much of a hassle," the girl reassured him, not wanting Charles to think that they'd somehow be offended by his rejection of the offer. She sprung a vacation on a man who was the Professor of a school that was basically under attack at all angles. It would be a harder yes than a no.

"Well…" there was an extremely long pause. "It's just- it's just a weekend. Where's the harm in that?"

"Wait, really?" Allie asked excitedly, having not expected the outcome at all. Charles only nodded, still trying to convince himself of his words.

"Yes, I suppose I could use a mere moment of rest. Especially with my two favorite children," the telepath laughed in an adoring way, making Allie's heart flutter. _His two favorite children_ … it was like she had a father after all, it just took her a long time to realize it. And Peter as well, although Erik was the true parent, he still had a dad within Charles.

"Remember the conversation we had about the severity of words?" Allie questioned the man. He nodded as if offended that she'd think he'd forget.

"Of course, like it was yesterday," he replied jokingly, as it was in fact yesterday when they'd discussed the matter. She laughed along for a moment, using it to buy herself time to remember what she was going to say… but then she sort of lost it.

Shit, that was going to be a cute moment. "Ugh, yeah I don't know where I was going with that." Beside her Peter snorted.

"Way to go, dipshit," he said, acknowledging that she completely tossed a couple of perfect lines out the window. Charles' mouth was agape due to the boy's comment, to which he placed his bald head with one of his hands.

"Lord," he laughed. "Find yourself a man who will both argue about giving you a break and call you a 'dipshit'."

"It's the best kind of man, I'll tell you that," Peter declared.

"The one that knows how to wield his words correctly, I believe," the Professor hummed.

Allie simply smiled.

 _Two days later…_

Raven had been sitting proudly in Charles' big leather chair, eating an apple lazily with her feet propped up on the desk when Kurt popped suddenly into the room. The woman jumped out of her skin practically as the boy struggled to find the location of the desk through his quickly evaporating smoke.

"Ah!" He said once finding that he was facing the right way. Raven just stared at him, frozen in place with her apple fitted between her teeth. Slowly she removed it from her face to appear less awkwardly placed in front of the mutant. "Someone is at the door and since none of us kids are permitted to open it, you must."

As duty called, the woman stood up and gently set the apple onto the desk, walking towards Kurt as she figured he'd just teleport themselves to the entrance of the school. "Where is Hank?" She asked.

"Giving Angel a check up on his little wings," the blue mutant answered her before reaching down to hold her wrist and whisking them off to the opposite end of the mansion. Raven coughed through the smoke once they'd landed in front of the big oak doors, hearing another round of knocks come from whoever was on the other side.

"Alight, who the hell…" she muttered to herself while reaching for the handle. Upon pulling it back, a familiar face appeared through the thin crack of the doorway. "Oh, Erik."

"Morning," he greeted Raven curtly, looking at her impatiently as he was waiting to be welcomed inside. The woman sighed, opening the door up the rest of the way so that he could cross the threshold into the school. As he did so, he wasted no time in questioning the Mystique. "So where's Charles?"

Well, how unfortunate. "He left this morning." The fact didn't seem to phase the metal manipulator in the slightest.

"Okay, where is Peter then?" Erik asked. He sounded almost urgent as he ran his hand through his hair, turning to look Raven head on with seriousness. She curiously wondered why he'd be looking for Peter of all people. He didn't find out about their relation, did he?

"With Charles. Him, Allie and Peter all went down to Virginia to stay the weekend with Peter's family. Or his mom, I guess," Raven explained. She wasn't even finished before the man began walking back towards the front door. "Where are you going? Why do you need to know?"

He only ignored her as he continued on down the steps and out towards where his car was parked.

Erik was going to have to get a hold of a plane ticket, and fast.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

 _Author's Note: So I don't know what I explained in my last author's note (I'm too lazy to click that single button that's going to take me to my last chapter to actually read what I'd included) but I know I did say that these next chapters are pretty chill, which I did not lie, this chapter is in fact very fluffy. But hot damn, the chapter after this one is fucking insanity. A whole slew of shit is going to hit the fan and I don't think y'all are ready for it, so be very prepared. Like, I've had my notepad full of ideas and I was just sitting at my computer the other day, outlining my ideas and it literally pulled from every existing plan I had. All sorts of bombs are going to be dropped and honestly, I'm not even prepared to write it._

 _But yeah, don't worry, I'm not pulling a kidnapping card and making Allie, this time, go ten years without Peter. They just got back together and I love writing their cute little relationship too much to be mean author #129723487 and completely demolish their relationship with drama. I'm just gonna casually end the world, but don't worry, they'll still be going strong._

 _So, uh, that's all I really have to say. I guess you can enjoy this peace while you can ;D_

"Peter, let me take something," Allie pleaded with the boy as she watched him struggle to try and backpack a suitcase while two other pieces of luggage occupied his hands. "There's no way you're going to be able to make it all the way outside."

He only continued to wobble around, wondering what the hell the Professor had packed for a three day trip to Washington. Must've been the entire mansion or something. "No, I gotta be the man of this adventure," he assured the girl, taking not a single step forward before half the luggage he carried toppled to the ground. Allie jumped for the fallen items, scurrying to snatch each one up before Peter could pry them from her hands.

"I got it!" She said loudly to him, tearing the bags away from the persistent boy. The weight was equally distributed then and now all they had to do was wait for Charles to get out of the bathroom.

"Are you excited?" Peter asked from beside her, making Allie shrug in a sort of undecided way as she'd been pushing off thinking about it too much. He knew that it was probably going to be hard for her to see the neighborhood, not to mention the house that was built over top her old one. A lot had changed since the seventies and he wasn't sure if she'd even recognize it anymore- he almost didn't either. "It's gonna be good. We're gonna have a good time."

He nodded towards her, trying to reassure Allie of the fun that they had yet to come. She put on a smile for the boy's own security and hoped that his words rang true when it came down to returning to their homes; at least his house… she knew that seeing her own again was just going to be a bit of a mess. But she had been figuring that for quite a long time.

"I hope so. So how old is Wanda?" She asked, wanting to change the subject to decompress a little. The last thing she wanted to do was get all down and low in the middle of an airport when they were supposed to be having fun. Peter huffed out a laugh and shook his head as if in disbelief, hardly able to comprehend how old his little sister was getting.

"Way too fuckin' old, she graduated like a week ago, I'm guessing. At least if they kept the Senior leave dates the same since I'd gone there," he informed Allie lowly, making the girl's mouth drop.

"That's right," she recalled. "I remember you saying she was soon going to graduate when we were at the mall. What the hell, talk about time flying. That's so weird."

"Tell me about it, I had to deal with all the boyfriends and shit," he chuckled. Allie could only imagine how that had gone for the poor girl. He probably played pranks on them while they were out on dates or tried to be the intimating, manly Peter whenever they'd be around. The boy always had some sort of complex over appearing scarier than what he actually was, which Allie often times chalked up to him wanting to fend off anyone that tried to come their way.

"Oooh, tell me stories, I wanna hear about it," Allie said excitedly as she imagined more and more hilarious scenarios for herself, wanting to know the true tales. Peter smiled and eyed the bathroom door, watching as Charles pushed himself out of it.

The Professor quietly joined them, grabbing a heavier bag from Allie's hand and putting it on his lap. Peter started his first story, hushing the entire group and forcing Charles to lap back to a couple minutes before and assess what the two kids had been talking about.

Ah, Peter being protective. "So basically her first crush was this like, bulky little prick named Fred that had some weird ass, red hair…"

Charles smiled at the vulgar prologue, wishing that the entire weekend stayed as calm as what it was then. All he wanted was to just simply be happy; simply happy.

 _Later…_

"I'm guessing you got your license by now, right?" The blonde muttered as they stood in at the car renter, waiting for their key by a crusty, fake marble counter. Peter nodded surely, watching a couple flies swarm over a sticky bun beside him, where the receptionist had been moments before.

"Yah, don't worry. I got it when I was kicked off the bus and didn't feel like running to school all the time," he explained briefly, being cut short when the husky worker appeared once more from the back room of the store. He lazily tossed the car key onto the countertop, quickly returning to his dessert without any farewell to the couple. "Nice doing business with you, sir," the boy quipped while snatching the key right up.

The couple made their way out of the building, finding that Charles had already situated himself into the backseat, his wheelchair waiting to be deconstructed beside him. Peter mentally sighed at seeing the contraption, remembering how hard it was to get his damn crutches in and out of the car. Having to deal with an entire wheelchair wouldn't be any easier; especially since they had to swap out the fancy one Charles owned for an older one, since it was actually able to collapse.

Peter grabbed the rusty looking transport, trying to figure out where to start in making it smaller. Charles just observed the boy's confused posture as he attempted the all but impossible task.

"Allie, can you come help me?" He asked the girl, who was throwing her things into the passenger side. Allie perked up, finding the question amusing in some way.

"Wow, the 'man of this adventure' needs help?" She said, coy smile on her lips as she leant against the car, arms crossed in a smug fashion. Peter narrowed his eyes, partly due to the sun and partly due to the feeling of betraying his temporary moral code. He hummed and turned back to look seriously at the wheelchair.

"Touche," he told her, but then stood up straight. "But really I have no fuckin' idea, man." Allie laughed and pushed herself up, coming up beside him to look at it for a moment.

"I don't know," the girl muttered to herself, bending slightly to feel around the thing, trying to find a lever of some sorts, or maybe a button. "I don't… know. Maybe…" She got down onto her knee and pulled up on the actual seat part of the chair, finding that the wheels began coming together.

Peter put a hand on his forehead. "Oh-kay, I gotcha." Then he leant down and folded the chair the rest of the way before hoisting it up into his arms, walking around to the open trunk of the rental.

Allie stood by the door yet, turning to look at the Professor. "Alrighty then," she huffed out with a smile.

Charles shrugged, brows raised. "I honestly never knew how to do that. The more you know." Peter laughed loudly from behind them, slamming the trunk hatch closed, then came around the car.

"You know how to dissect a brain but not fold a wheelchair?"

"You know how to run fast but you don't know how to find velocity?" The Professor fired back playfully, single brow raised above his blue eye. Peter made a face.

"I know how to do velocity. Physics was the only class I didn't bomb, aside from math," he said in defense of his knowledge.

Charles nodded, "let's hear it then."

"It's your times divided by the positions," he stated surely. The Professor shook his head, turning to look at the girl.

"I nearly missed my mark in Physics though I still know that velocity is found by dividing the _positions_ by the _times_ ," he explained in a cocky tone, brow raised once more as he turned to look mischievously at Peter. The boy just huffed out an aggravated breath and crossed his arms, chin raised in defiance to the Professor's words.

"I can't believe as the Professor of our wonderful, mutant loving school, you almost missed your mark in Physics," Peter told the other man out of a mock disappointment, using a snooty sounding voice to express his playful feelings. Allie just simply smiled at their little roleplay of banter, wondering what they'd come up with next.

Charles laughed, propping his chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Well, I was gifted enough to apply for the Physics course when I was in my fourth year of schooling." The gray haired boy all but jumped out of his skin.

"You were in the God damn fourth grade when you took a physics class?" He said in shock and sympathy for the man. Charles shrugged, hands raised beside his shoulders.

"Yes, of course. My parents were keen on education and my father wanted me to become a scientist as there was much to be discovered when I was younger. The second World War was a staple for experimenting- as we all unfortunately know," he informed them in reference to the Nazi trend of conducting horrific tests on their unwilling subjects. Both Peter and Allie nodded in a sad sort of way, but were also equally curious as to what else Charles' childhood consisted of.

Admittedly they both forgot, in a way, that Charles was a man who also had parents at one point and was young just like they were, too. He wasn't always the badass telepath that they'd come to know and love through the years; one time or another everyone was just a kid beginning to discover the world.

"It's… not an easy time," Allie muttered, putting on a willing smile as she walked towards the passenger side, coming to sit before shutting the door. Peter turned to look at Charles and smirked, making sure the man was ready to go before he left to be behind the wheel. "Agh shit, this thing isn't filled up."

The sound of Allie's nail tapping the fuel gauge could be heard as the boy climbed into the front seat, making him groan. "What in the hell did I pay that guy for?"

When they arrived at the gas station, just a couple minutes from their home, Peter groggily got out and began filling up the car. Allie pressed out the side window, talking to him as he leaned against the rental, pump in hand.

"So do you have any plans for dinner?" She asked him, wanting to figure out what they were doing in advance to that evening so there wouldn't be any time wasted on their short trip. The boy tossed his head back and forth in thought, trying to think of some places that might serve decent enough for their very hungry stomachs. There obviously was some really fancy places to call reservations in for, but there was also the diners that had equally amazing food. Like Franklin's french fries- wait, yeah!

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go to Franklin's," Peter supplied, watching as Allie began to nod furiously, slapping the exterior of her car door in excitement.

"Ooooh, yes!" She giggled. Charles, who'd been spacing out while people watching, was brought back into reality by the noise and turned to see what he'd missed.

"Ooooh, yes?" He said in question, to which Peter informed him of their evening plans.

"We're gonna be getting some kick ass diner food for dinner, that good?" Not that he expected the Professor to say no, Peter just wanted to make sure that he didn't have the man doing things he didn't want to. Charles was in fact their guest on that trip and it was up to the couple to treat him the best they could.

Nodding in confirmation, Charles said, "I couldn't imagine a better plan."

 _Later…_

"So how'd you end up getting two free rooms?" Allie asked Peter, who'd just finished checking out for their hotel stay, having some sort of certificate on standby that granted the group with free access to each suit they had booked. The boy shrugged as he wheeled Charles towards the elevator area, finally allowing Allie to take their luggage for once.

"Well, in college the entire track team took a trip and it just so happens that we came here, and it was cheaper than staying in D.C. since that was where we were gonna be doing 'educational' things at," he explained, offhandedly hinting at their very not school related recreation during the time spent away. "So basically one night we are up in our rooms and the fuckin' police all but burst down our doors, trying to bust us for smuggling drugs or some shit."

How in the hell did Allie not hear about this story yet?

"Then we were all handcuffed until the person who made the call on us was actually discovered to be the one with the drugs. Someone who rivaled him, or something, ratted him out to the police- meaning one unit was already on their way to get him. Then he decided to call in a different station to search the rooms below him, that way when the unit after him showed up, they'd just follow the cops that were already there up to us and then that idiot would go free. And we just so happened to be the rooms below him."

"Long story short," Peter said, pressing the elevator button to call one down. "The drug lord was caught because one of the guys on our team might've drunkenly slashed his tires the night before due to an even more drunken dare challenge. He'd been planning to, y'know, tell the owner of the vehicle but it ended up working in the end. But yeah, we were given two free rooms each thereafter."

Charles scoffed. "Talk about college stories I wished I had. All I can say is that my best friend shot me in the back and paralyzed me."

"So that's what happened?" Peter asked at last, wanting to know for the longest time but never wanted to offend the man in any way, or resurface bad memories. But in the case that Charles had just used it as a form of dark humor, Peter figured it was within the conversational bounds.

"Indeed," Charles muttered, realizing that it was Peter's father who had been the man behind the action, to which he didn't really want to reveal. But he also wondered if he should because it was the boy's right to understand what kind of person Erik was then and now. "It was, uh, shit."

"Some best friend," the gray haired mutant sighed. Charles did too, along with him before deciding he might as well just not hide things from the boy.

"Yeah… it was Erik." Now that shut Peter up real quick, raising the tension in the small elevator as they entered it. Allie fidgeted slightly, having already seen some glimpses of the scenes since they were occasionally in Charles mind, working as a nightmare scenario from time to time. But she really didn't know the context, nor had she seen it entirely before.

It was silent, aside from a quiet, "oh," from Peter. The elevator dinged, bringing them to the third floor.

"I- I didn't mean to put him in a bad light like that. Not to mention the setting was considerably overwhelming and for Erik, that meant that he was occupied both mentally and physically. The bullet was in no way meant to hit me, much less my spine… but accidents do occur from time to time," Charles attempted to save the blow of the last comment. Peter seemed to be taking it in but it still wasn't making too much of an effort to assure them that he was alright.

"It's okay, Charles. I understand he's got a laundry list of issues."

Allie slapped Peter's arm from behind Charles' back. _That sounded really angst-y, Peter_ , he could just barely hear her voice echo within his head, making him feel bad.

"I- thank you though, for being honest. If you want we can talk about him later… I actually do want to understand him better, so I know who he really is and not just the act he puts on," Peter told the man, feeling that it was a better way to express what he was thinking. The Professor nodded, leaving out a relieved sigh.

"Yes, yes. That'd be great, Peter."

The group, by then, had finally approached their room doors, allowing Peter to get the Professor situated before he and Allie went to their own reserved space in the adjoining suit.

"Are you okay?" Allie asked the boy when he flung himself onto one of two beds in the room, face first into the fluffy covers on top. Flipping over, he paused before expressing what was going through his thoughts.

"For every step I've taken in my life, my dad has ruined a person," he said simply.

"You could argue that we've done that too," she told him with a shrug while pulling out some clothing to change into. He shook his head, not really in the mood to argue anything for themselves.

"He's an awful fucking person and I don't even know why I keep trying to like, impress him and- and get him to notice me. I keep letting my life revolve around telling him I'm his son and it's just… I don't know now." Allie tossed her outfit onto the bed, standing still with her hands on her hips for a moment. What she wanted to say might've come off in a woe is me sort of way, but she still wanted to say it and figured Peter would understand where she was coming from.

"Look, you- please take this as what I'm am just advising and not as me saying my problems are like, worse than yours or anything- but you have a chance. I know he is in no way the greatest dad, nor the easiest, but you do have that chance, okay? I might not think that he's the best mutant either but I do think he deserves to have a son and you deserve to have a dad. I didn't get that… it was cut short for me, so don't throw that away yourself. And all I want is to see you happy and I truly think that when you get around to telling him, you'll get that. Please don't give up on him, even though it's hard."

Allie was surprised to feel a little wetness in her eyes, though she wasn't by any means in tears over the short pep talk. In fact Peter appeared more upset by it than she was, which made her heart strings pull. It was so weird to see him act like he was and all she wanted to do was take it all away from him- all that stress on his shoulders.

"Ughh, you're right. Am I selfish?" He asked her whilst sitting up, turning to look over at the girl in worry. Allie laughed lightly, walking over to him apologetically.

"Nooo, and that's not what I meant either. I don't think you're selfish. You're just frustrated," she told him obviously, coming to stand between his legs and putting her hands on his shoulders. "And I think it's because this situation is testing your _patience_."

It was his turn to laugh then while grabbing the girl's arms and wrapping them around his neck, putting his around her waist. "And we both know I don't have that…" he said quietly, little smile splayed on his lips. Allie couldn't help but lean forward and kiss him, using how close they were as an invitation.

As she pulled away, she said, "I love you, so much. And as much as your dad is a massive ass annoyance, I know you'll get through it."

"Together," he added, pulling Allie in close for a hug, resting his head in the crook of her neck with closed eyes.

She repeated him softly from beneath her breath.

 _Elsewhere…_

Erik looked around the airport, scanning like he usually did for anything unusual. He was likely going to be free of worry for the next day or so, since the trouble knocking on his door wasn't exactly the brightest, albeit them being quite crafty. And they were in fact a threat, no matter how you looked at it.

And they were after Peter. It was a bit unexplainable, but Erik felt the need to at least warn the kid of the danger, as well as Charles, hence his lengthy travel to Washington D.C. in a matter of a mere day. What was going on right then was a lot bigger than what he'd expected, and everyone needed to know what was coming.

Project Undermine was no laughing matter, after all.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty- One

 _Sweet Jesus, it's been a while. And hell, a lot has happened. I got a job, apparently I'm the manager of a band now + their lyricist, I went on a twelve million year long vacation in the woods where all I could do was swim in a lake with fish, weird pine needle plants and snapping turtles and there was NO SIGNAL anywhere. So please forgive how long it took to get this chapter out, cause I basically left y'all on a cliff hanger with just saying that this next segment was gonna be fucking crazy. But hey, it's finally here, and hopefully it's gonna live up to how much I hyped it up._

 _I think I'm gonna kinda be doing some flashbacks to compliment the progression of what's going down, which you'll find out what I mean when you read through this, so get ready to see some of Allie's past through these next couple chapters._

 _Also, I feel like it's taking ages for the next X-Men movie to finally come out. I'm dying to see all my little mutants again and it's making me damn anxious over where to take this story. Cause I really wanna continue it to the next movie, though I think I'm in a safe place cause the new films have been moving in ten year increments. So like, as long as I don't hit the 1990s in this fan fiction, I should be able to pick up with the upcoming movie smoothly enough._

 _Eh, I think I ranted about dumb, stupid shit enough. So have fun reading, I'm going to try to push my responsibilities back to keep going with this cause I'm in love with this story… fuck I'm rambling again._

 _Read the story! Hope you enjoy!_

It was strangely familiar to be standing at Peter's doorstep, grouped together on the mat that his mother had never replaced since they were young. It was still scarred by Peter's constant zipping in and out of the house, all day and night long; it brought Allie back to standing by his doorstep, spamming his doorbell on days of boredom.

The gray haired mutant sent another couple knocks onto the polished door, turning to grin at Charles and Allie from over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, she usually ignores me like this," he chuckled, making the other two mutants crack a smile. Allie looked around the street, finding that really not too much had changed other than some of the house colors, otherwise everything was left untouched to the newer style homes. Then again, Peter grew up in a house that more advanced looking for the 70s, so it made sense for his neighborhood to pass along any reconstruction to the next.

Laughing as she did so, Peter's mother opened the front door at last, looking at her son in adoration. "For a second I thought it was the police coming to talk to you again," she told him with a crinkled smile before pulling the boy into a hug. Peter squeezed the woman tight, moving away after a moment to reassure her that he, of course, was not the police.

"Do you worry, I've got worse things than the police now," he joked, trying to forget the grim reality of the words. "Where's my sister at?"

"Here!" Came a voice from inside the house, to which it wasn't long and a redheaded teenager leapt out from the doorway, tackling Peter off of the front porch.

The boy toppled over sideways into the grass beside them, Wanda attached to her brother's waist as if he'd disappear if she didn't. Allie and Charles looked on at the pair, mouths dropped because Wanda literally drove them both off the front porch.

"Holy shit," Peter breathed out, lying in a mix of mulch and their lawn, feeling as if he'd receive bruises from the vise his sister had him in. But he didn't care, since it had been so long since the boy had seen her last. Maybe a year and a half, or so? However the time went, it was due for them to meet up again. "You missed me, huh?"

"Yes!" Wanda yelped, pushing herself onto her knees before standing up.

"Good Lord, Wanda," Mrs. Maximoff said, looking at the girl with raised brows. "You just knocked your brother off the porch."

The redhead threw her hands up in a shrug. "He should've seen it coming."

Behind her, Peter brushed himself off before gesturing to the other two members of his party. "These are my friends, Allie and Charles." Wanda turned, making a double take of Allie, jaw dropping when she realized it was the girl who'd come over so much when she was just a kid.

"Wait, Allie as in like, when I was younger? That Allie?" She stumbled out her words, looking between the blonde herself and her brother. Peter nodded as Allie raised her hand in a wave, smiling warmly at the girl that had grown up so much. It brought a sickness to her stomach almost, since she'd missed out on almost all of Wanda's teen years- Allie remembered thinking about those times to come and being excited because she could work as a role model of sorts for her.

That, obviously, was cut unexpectedly short.

"Yep, it's me. It's so good to see you, Wanda. You've…" Allie beckoned at the girl's tall, willowy frame, "... grown up so much." It was like seeing her own child for the first time in ten years, really.

"Wow, where the heck were you all this time. Ya missed out on my first period and all that fun stuff," the redhead asked with her arms out straight, having no shame in the revealing topic.

"Should've seen me try to direct my way around a tampon," Peter muttered as he walked back into the group, wrapping an arm around Allie. She didn't really know what she was supposed to say to the girl's question, as it wasn't like she could just be honest about it. Luckily, the gray haired boy had her back. "And she was overseas, doing some schooling."

Mrs. Maximoff remembered a day, many years back, where Peter was all but on his knees crying about how Allie was stolen away from him. And going overseas for schooling didn't really add up in her mind for such a reaction from him…

She'd ask about it later.

"And who's this again?" Wanda asked, gesturing to the Professor. Charles smiled warmly at the girl, gesturing in a short wave towards her.

"I'm Charles. I teach at your brother's school," he explained in a way that made their situation sound weird. Why would some random teacher go on vacation with his students? Either way it was looked act, Wanda didn't seem to care and simply beamed at the man.

"Right! You're Charles Xavier- I want to go to your school," she declared loudly, clapping her ringed hands together excitedly.

Allie, who'd been sort of zoning out of the conversation, was immediately floored by a wave of anxiety which was sourced straight from Peter beside her. A multitude of things came whirling in her mind as she investigated what he was feeling, finding that his thoughts were comically fast.

She can't come to the mansion. Someone just got kidnapped- she's too stubborn to listen to rules. Shit, why did I teach her to be like me? I gotta tell her not to do it, it's a shitty education. Does she even know how to control her powers? Wait… did I even know she had some? Nope, we can't do this, she won't be able to handle Erik… I can't even handle Erik. What the fuck is happening, oh my God. It's too dangerous for her to come with me. And… and what if she starts dating there too!? I can't be around for that or else I'll murder anything with a dick on campus.

There was just simply too much going on for Allie to keep up so she pulled out of his thoughts before it'd became overwhelming. But the wash of anxiety still roamed through her, Peter's fear actually was that strong.

"No," the gray haired mutant said, straight up. He hated the way Wanda's face immediately fell but it had to be said; Peter wasn't going to risk having the girl taken just like Allie was, or God forbid, get into mutant politics like Allie apparently was. He needed her to be safe at home or on the opposite end of the country because the boy knew that although he was fast, shit could happen faster than the blink of an eye. He learned once that he wasn't invincible, he couldn't do a round two with his sister.

"Why?" Wanda asked him with a bite, not expecting Peter to come home and be her God damn dad all of a sudden. If she wanted to go to a school, crafted for mutants like her, she'd do it. It didn't matter if Peter was there or not- or what he said in protest to her plan. "I'm eighteen, I can do what I want."

"N-no, look, we will talk about it later. Okay?" He said softly, wanting to pass an argument for later when all they were there for was an invitation to eat at Franklin's. "For now, I wanted to ask if you'd like to come out for some food with us."

Wanda narrowed her gaze, deciding if she wanted to be difficult or nice to her brother after his controlling of her life. "Hmmm," she hummed, crossing her arms. "I don't know, I've got some homework I need to do."

Peter made a face. "Nice try, you graduated. C'mon, we're going to Franklin's."

"Shit," the redhead muttered, turning around to go grab her purse from the house.

 _Later…_

"Peter?" Allie said.

"Yeah," he replied, pulling out at an intersection as they headed for Franklin's. They were actually just a couple minutes away from-

"My house, can we go by it?" She asked quietly, looking out the window. The boy figured it wouldn't hurt to run up her street, especially since it was gonna be about the only time they'd have a chance to pass the place. The hotel was on the other side of the neighborhood and everything else they wanted to see was even further, so then was the perfect time to get Allie's house over with.

He nodded, taking a hard right into her neighborhood. "Sure thing."

As they drove through, it was clearer to them that it was a bit more unkempt. There wasn't any perfectly cubed bushes, nor bright colors or mowed lawns. The windows didn't sparkle and the mailboxes were experiencing rust; the homes were left untouched, for the most part. Towards where Allie used to live was where there were even older homes, which appeared to have been the only ones redone.

And then it was in her vision. Peter slowed up a little as he traveled through the tight street, giving the blonde time to gawk out at the refined home with a little, red For Sale sign set against the vibrant siding. And just a couple feet from the front porch was a tall man, writing what must've been the phone number of the realtor onto a notepad. He seemed like an older guy, in his sixties maybe, then his face-

"Stop."

"What?"

"Peter, st- stop-" Allie unlocked the door and opened it, the car still going twenty miles-

She didn't care. Her feet hurt and she stumbled out but she didn't care; there was no feeling in her, she was too stunned.

The man that was standing there, at the house, noticed the car screech to a stop and then the girl sprinting towards him. Obviously, he began to retreat from the bounding figure of Allie, unsure of who the random blonde was and why she was pursuing him with such a manic haste.

"Wait! Please, wait," she screamed but he kept running down towards the opposite end of the street. The blonde shot her hand out, watching as two dark figures emerged from the shadows that the house cast, stopping the older man short as they blocked the sidewalk. Allie could feel his fear and confusion but she just kept running until there was only a few yards between them.

The man… he turned around slowly, eyes wide. Then he looked at Allie, jaw slack slightly; she knew that he saw it too. There in the distance came another person- it was hard for him to see because of his bad sight but it appeared to be a man in a wheelchair, as well as two other people.

And the blonde…

"Allie?! What are you doing?" Peter yelled, pushing Charles quickly towards the girl, Wanda coming along at his heels. The redhead huffed and puffed as she tried to understand what was going on, vaguely wondering if this was why her brother stayed away. Allie didn't answer, only stood in shock in the grass margin that met with the road. She couldn't move a muscle… the confusion and shock held her joints tight.

When they were close enough to the scene, Peter let go of Charles and came up to Allie, putting a hand on her shoulder so that he could look at her. Or in the least make her look at him, but then a single word fell from her lips.

"Dad."

Charles' eyes widened and out of the mere moment that had passed after the word was spoken, he tried to wrack the brain of the apparent father figure. If this was truly Allie's father, it wouldn't be hard to discover through a matter of various memories. But he was taken aback by the freshest thoughts there- he couldn't even go any deeper before his concern rose.

"Peter," the Professor called the boy shakily-

"Get the hell away from that man!" Then another voice growled from the parallel sidewalk. Everyone turned.

"Erik?" Peter said in question, watching as his dad used Allie's father's metallic watch as leverage to pull the man towards him. What the fuck was happening right now?

"WAIT!" Allie screamed, moving her shadow men to stop Erik from hurting her dad, concerns placed only on the man himself. The figures rushed forward quickly and tackled Erik down, using what force they could without killing him. The blonde couldn't have Erik getting hurt but he also was going to harm her dad. Despite her efforts, Magneto persevered and continued to yank Allie's dad towards himself.

"NO!" Then came Peter as he noticed Allie's shadow men beginning to stangle Erik. "Allie stop!" The gray haired mutant surprisingly shoved the girl's shoulder before realizing he'd just pushed Allie: one of the most important things to him. As the shadow men dispersed from the sudden lack of concentration, Peter braced the girl's shoulders so she wouldn't topple from his short outburst.

There was too much going on for Allie to deal with the fact that Peter had just pushed her.

"Get off of him!" Allie shouted once more, watching as her father struggled to break free of Erik's grasp as he'd finally reached the metal manipulator's position. "Erik please! Please stop!"

Peter's dad finally looked up, the frenzy in his eyes being halted by Allie's cries.

"Do you have any idea who this man is?!" He said as if she should think her dad was fucking Stryker of all people.

Allie took a step forward, placed her hand firmly on Erik's shoulder and pushed up, watching as he slowly moved with her demand. Her father laid on the ground yet, frozen in his place as he looked upon his daughter with mixed emotions.

"You're a mutant," was the first thing that he would say to her after so many years of thinking that he had died in a war. That was it.

A ball formed in her throat, her hand was still extended towards Erik.

"What?" She asked in disbelief. " _What_?"

He didn't say anything more to her, only through his lashes did he glare as if she was some sort of monster. This couldn't have been her father… but it was. What happened to him?

"I'm telling you-" Erik began to assert his claim but Allie couldn't have any of it right now. She was too overwhelmed with what was going on to listen to the massive hypocrite of a man standing behind her dad.

"Shut up, Erik! Just… stop…" the blonde put her head in her hands and tried to muster some steady thought but her mind was scattered everywhere.

Behind her, Charles looked to Peter. _We need to go back to the hotel, with her father and Erik._

Peter glanced over to the fathers plus Allie and sighed lightly, shakily in fact.

 _Okay_ , he barely nodded in the Professor's direction because he was unsure of what his plan was in that moment. Peter didn't even know how to handle what was going on, especially considering he couldn't read Allie's mind and she certainly was in no state to make decisions. At least not until she was able to get past the shock of seeing her seemingly dead father be resurrected from a fucking war.

"Allie," the Professor said, slightly stern as the girl turned around slowly. "Hold your arms out Peter." Then the girl was suddenly sailing towards the ground, just barely saved by the boy as he realized Charles was putting them to sleep. Erik and Allie's father weren't so lucky and were sent to the hard ground with two profound thuds, unconscious and easy to move. "Perfect, let's get them in the car."

 _Two years earlier…_

Stryker found himself in a rather… strange mood; a very contemplative, inquisitive one.

"We already have mom, what about dad?" He asked one of his more friendly researchers, hands behind his head as he casually relaxed in the other man's office.

Johnathan Selting, who had done very much in the favor of Stryker for Allie's past, sighed and brought his head up in a gesture of wonder, though he truly didn't give a shit. The man who was the girl's father had already been pronounced missing in action… so it was very likely that he was dead in a ditch far, far away. Any chance of using him as leverage was out of their hands already- countless times John had tried to convince Stryker to use Peter to progress her abilities, but he would somewhat refuse. Never before had the man put his foot down on a matter like that.

"He's MIA, prisoner of war maybe. Likely dead, though. At least by now, there's no way he's alive," John explained while copying some notes from another mutant's profile. William crinkled his nose, unsatisfied with the flexibility of her father's whereabouts.

"Do we have documentation on this?" He asked.

The researcher nodded, suppressing a roll of his eyes because he knew it would cost him a leg and an arm if Stryker should see. As he stood to move to one of the filing cabinets, he muttered out what he had remembered reading on the record.

"I'm pretty sure there was an eyewitness account of his kidnapping or something," his hand waved in a gesture of being unsure, while the other weaved through a drawer of manilla folders. Finally it found Simmons and he was bounding back towards the table.

"Eyewitness?" William hummed, eyeing the folder as it was tossed towards him from the opposite head of the table. Like it was an exciting novel, Stryker thumbed through all of the file's contents with anticipation, searching for the letter. It wasn't long until he found what appeared to be a MIA report, though it was very crude looking. "What the hell is this?" He held up the letter to John's view, "this looks like they wrote it in the fucking jungle."

"I'm sure there's a reason for that," John defended the poor paper who couldn't help to be so sloppily produced. Stryker wasn't buying it though because every missing person letter he'd seen was crisp and clean, not a single wrinkle in them. And the format actually looked accordingly, not like the one in which he held in his hands.

"These letters are always pristine, there's no way this came from an office in the United States," he tried to explain to Johnathan, who nodded his head up and down absently, nose stuck in his notes yet. Stryker sighed and looked back down to at least continue reading the roughly penned report. And then yet another thing caught his eye. "He was last seen being bombarded, then forced onto a fully weaponized U.S. helicopter, speculated to have been hijacked by Vietnamese soldiers with knowledge of flight…"

Johnathan didn't appear to have a heard a single word that came from Stryker's mouth. "John, that's a little bit of a tall tale, don't you think?"

The researcher shrugged upon hearing his name, pushing his boxy glasses up on his nose. "Well certainly the soldiers understanding how to fly a helicopter is a bit of a far fetch."

Stryker stood from the table, finger over his mouth as he looked on at the letter.

"I think we are being lied to… and I'm very curious to know by who. Find out where you got this copy from and who wrote it."

John merely looked up from his papers through is glasses before nodding and returning to the work.

"You got it."


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thiry- Two

 _Heyyyyy guyyyysssss, so yes, lot's of shit just went down in the story. Crazy right? I knew back when I was a toddler and writing the beginning chapters of this story that Allie's father was not out of the picture. And as things unraveled in my head, I found out where I wanted to finally drop him in at. So hopefully this strange anti- mutant persona is making your minds spin right around, yes? I mean, me too, honestly._

 _But shit's only going to continue to get crazier, I'm afraid. Also, thanks for the reviews, I saw them and immediately went to writing because I was so excited to get this chapter pushed out onto the fanfiction realm! Hopefully it's a good filler at the moment until I can get the outline for Thirty- Three done._

 _Sorry if this is a shit author's note, I'm like… I don't even know. I'm just tired right now, got lots on my small little plate here. But I still love you guys and this story, so I'll try my hardest to getcha your updates on Allie and Peter. In the mean time I still have all those extra chapters written up for like, a behind the scenes type of thing. If y'all wanna see and read those, I can post them. They just sorta go more in depth into the good times before Allie was kidnapped and shit, and maybe even some stuff that you'll see in here that deal with what happened in the Weapon X project. But it's up to you guys._

 _Anywhore, I've been talking too much. Enjoy!_

"Why? Why does this have to happen, I don't understand…"

Peter was locked on his own gaze in the mirror as he held a hysteric Allie in the bathroom, knowing that everyone in the next room over could probably hear her cries.

"I can't- I- I- I can't fucking do-o this," she told him, smothered by the boy's shoulder through her tight grip on him, nails likely leaving crescent shaped wounds in his back. Peter sighed, moving his hand up to hold her head, which was full of knotted hair from the girl's nervous tangling of it. He smoothed over it and carefully thought of what his words should even be to help calm her down.

It was so tedious, since… well, even he didn't know what the hell was going on.

"We are going to figure this out, don't worry, we always do. Right?" It pained him to say it because they, frankly, never got to the bottom of any of their issues half the time. And Allie's father came too far down the checklist of their troubles for it to be solved anytime soon; the waiting room of ways to fuck them over was packed to max capacity.

Allie couldn't help but just laugh at his words, "that's a lie."

He bit back a sarcastic reply when he saw that she was still very much so sobbing and not at all in the mood to turn to jokes just yet_ understandably so.

"Okay, we will figure this out to the best of our capabilities… better?" He mumbled, stubbing his toe against the toilet as the mutant shuffled around a bit. Wide eyed and biting back a groan from the sudden pain, Peter felt Allie move away from him.

Her eyes were swollen and the lashes around them muddled with tears- it was pitiful looking. "Do you ever…" Allie began before leaving off for a couple moments. Peter waited impatiently for what she was going to say, wanting to know on what matter he was supposed to relate to.

"Nevermind, let's go out now," she decided, taking back her words then opening up the bathroom door before Peter could protest. He was curious to know what she had meant to confess but figured now wasn't the time to pry. Upon exiting the small room, the pair was met with the other mutants sitting in silence as they waited for Erik and Allie's father to be relieved of their forced sleep state.

As the girl and Peter stepped out onto the carpet that had seen better days, Charles peeked over his shoulder at them. Wanda stood by the corner of the room, arms crossed and scared looking as she had no idea what was going on- much less than what everyone else did.

"We need to talk to Erik," Charles told Allie once she'd approached his wheelchair, hand propped on it's back rest whilst she nodded.

The bed squeaked loudly as Erik shot up from the covers, having been finally awaken by the mere snap of Charles' fingers. The telepath just eyed him for a moment or two, waiting to see if the man would say anything about their predicament.

The metal manipulator sighed, allowing his tense shoulders to relax when he saw that Allie's father was still fast asleep on the bed opposite to him. Then he looked over to the rest of them, working to fix his disgruntled appearance; Charles could tell that he was choosing his words wisely from beneath the ever hardening mental walls. The telepath knew, offhandedly, that Erik came to terms with knowing there was no keeping Charles out and simply accepted the moments of vulnerability.

For Allie, sitting there in such anticipation was beginning to take a toll on her anxieties. Under unknown reasons, Erik appeared to know of her father and was, in the same hand, scared of him…? Until the man decided to finish fondling his shirt cuffs, the girl would never fucking know the answers she seeked to find.

"Can you-" Allie cut herself off when she realized that her tone wasn't worth answering to. "Can you please, please tell me what's going on, Erik," she asked then, with more sincerity and respect of the man who was also family in some sorts.

Now that was a weird thought to think about.

"Well, this certainly will be a hard pill to swallow," Erik told her with apologetic eyes, which weren't even looking at her but rather the wrinkles in the blanket. As if that wasn't off putting enough. "Especially after…" he finally turned his gaze up into her dark one, pausing when he saw the tear stained cheeks and swollen eyes.

It didn't happen very often, but Erik was beginning to wish he hadn't been there; feeling bad for having to break the news to Allie was not on his to do list, since he had developed some strange soft spot for the girl. Which only came from the fact that she had gone through a lot- and for a long time- with Stryker. He supposed it boiled down to having sympathy for the poster girl of mutant discrimination.

"He… there is a group called Project Undermine."

Across the room, Peter coughed. "Real creative."

Erik shrugged at his son's comment, not missing the unrelated humor but continuing on with his discoveries. "They orchestrated that entire New York riot so that it would fail. That man who went to shoot Quincey, he was willing to sacrifice himself to start a war."

"That doesn't have to do with my dad," Allie tried not to believe that what Erik was telling her about was somehow, some way connected to her father. But she wasn't dumb; he'd clearly looked disgusted by the sight of her after spotting the shadow men, summoned on the fly by the mere wave of her hand. "That's- he wouldn't. He's not like that."

With a sigh, "Allie," Erik said her name as if he'd be able to snap her out of the denial. "He is their rat. He finds out when riots are going on and he let's these people know, so they can shut it down."

Okay, but how did he manage to go missing in Vietnam and then end up working for an off brand version of Stryker's crew in New York? That just didn't make sense and the plot hole of their tragedy was far too gaping to wrap her head around.

"I… Charles, wake him up," she looked to the telepath, not wanting to hear Erik's words any longer. At least not until her father was awake to defend his name- though she knew deep down that what Erik was telling her was likely true.

The telepath nodded and looked to her father, to which the man suddenly shot up in the bed right like Erik had just moments ago. He breathed deeply for a minute, looking around the room until his eyes landed on Allie, then squinted as if he'd only truly seen her right then.

Allie wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to him. She wasn't even sure if he was all there in the head, since he had some sort of far away look hiding within his eyes.

"What's your name?" She asked him in test to see if he'd been hypnotized to a bigot personality.

All he did was laugh dryly, "Leonard. I wasn't brainwashed, girl."

"You always went by Lennie," she muttered.

Leonard raised a brow, scanning the room carefully as he spoke to his daughter. "Yes, years ago when I lived here normally and I wasn't technically dead."

"Why?"

"Why what?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "Where is your mother?"

Allie felt her tears return. How was she supposed to explain that to him? How could she possibly explain anything at all to him?

The silence was dragging on and on, and she knew she had to say something in the least. "She died," was all Allie could muster out without breaking down. Her father seemed to know of what had ended her life.

"Some unknown sickness, like your grandma?" He asked. She wished that had been what'd taken her mother out.

By then the girl was trying very hard to contain the pain she was feeling, but it was too much. Allie had to reach her hand out, feeling behind herself before Peter latched on and linked their fingers together, coming to wrap his arm around her shoulders in a comforting way. If she was going to be forced to explain the trouble to her dad in order to make him understand, Allie needed Peter.

"She was shot." Leonard's eyes widened in surprise. It was the most emotion he'd shown in the time that they'd been together.

"By who?" He questioned in shock, brows lowered over his deep set, brown eyes. On the other side of the room, Erik shot her father a glare and moved to sit on the edge of his bedside.

"By scum like you," he snapped, watching as Leonard's gaze lowered in thought.

"Charles," Allie suddenly spoke, looking down to the man beside her. The Professor peered up quickly, hand planted beneath his chin like a pillar in support. "You've seen it, right?"

The telepath could immediately see where she was going with this. "Yes, give me a moment." And it wasn't another moment until Leonard's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell once more on to the bed in a deep slumber. This time around, however, he was riddled with a nightmare in the trance.

 _Allie began undressing herself for the shower, waiting to be called out into the washing block for the weekly clean up. Outside the cold changing room was Stryker and the guard which had escorted her to and from the testing chambers that day. As she listened absently to their conversation, there appeared to have been an issue._

" _You have to be fucking kidding me," Stryker muttered, head perked from what Allie could see through the window. "Okay, you," he grabbed the guard's elbow in a demanding way, "you are coming with me. I don't know how these kids manage to get out…"_

 _Then they left the girl's view, making her heart sink deep within her gut. As much as Allie hated Stryker, he was a mere few inches above the lowest of the low for the fact that he wouldn't let some of the agents patronize her in… inappropriate ways._

 _But now he was gone and the girl was nearly naked and only had a couple minutes to go out and shower. Upon recent visits, the shower monitor was replaced with a younger man, opposite to the older stoic one that wouldn't even look in her general direction whilst she cleaned herself. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for the newest asset. He'd occasionally make uncomfortable comments towards Allie, stare at her and even threatened to come to her cell when no one was watching the door through the night hours._

 _The mutant was pretty certain that the monitor wouldn't be able to have cellblock access anyways, but that didn't stop her from being cautious around him. He never acted on her before, since Stryker and her guard stood outside most times, but they weren't there to help her if anything should go down._

" _Fuck," Allie whispered, looking down at her body, seeing the gray pants bundled around her ankles as she contemplated even getting a shower at all. Perhaps the girl should just put her clothes back on and hide out in the washroom until the men returned from whatever business had called them away._

" _Are you going to come out?" That was him- he was waiting for her. Allie could've began crying because she knew that when she stepped out, he'd do something out of line and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. If he got hurt, then she'd be doomed even further than what she was._

" _Yes," she called, biting back her tears while stepping out of the dirty clothes at last, hands pressed against the wall shakily. Allie made her way out of the room then, coming into the long tile room and moving to her usual shower head in the corner of the room. Another mutant washed herself in the far end, though looked far too injured to serve any aid if Allie should require it._

" _Three minutes, water on," the monitor said to the two mutants before the water kicked on and began spraying them down. Allie worked quickly to wash away her grime and blood stains from the constant needling of Victor, hoping that she could finish early enough to gather a new set of clothes. But it was too late, he was already approaching her._

" _William and Jeff left," he said from behind her. Allie didn't dare turn around, just merely nodded and looked at the lines between the white tiles; she continued to clean herself feverishly. "It's just me."_

 _Then she felt the monitor man reach out and touch her shoulder, instantly jarring Allie into fight or flight mode. She didn't know what option to take but she knew that something had to be done, otherwise the worst might happen and there'd be no sympathy up for offer in there._

" _Don't touch me," she murmured clearly enough that he heard it, though it was ignored and he only continued to reach yet another arm towards the girl's body. "I said, don't touch me."_

" _Anything you say isn't going to be heard. Not in here," he told her with a menacing tone while his hands began to wander around the span of Allie's shoulder blades. Then within a split second those hands had her slammed against the hard wall, nearly causing her to slip on the wet floors._

 _Allie grunted from the contact, panicking when she both felt dizzy and could hear the jingle of a belt buckle being undone. Her head must've hit the tile pretty tough, as there was a trickle of red roaming over the girl's vision then._

" _H- help!" The blonde yelled out once she was able to gather her bearings after being dazed from the force of the monitor. Speaking of, his hand went straight for the girl's mouth, not bothering to cover it but rather to stick his fingers inside. Then he moved closer to her, his body pressed against the back of hers._

 _The idiot was trying to get off on feeling the inside of her mouth… which had sharp teeth and moved with a jaw that could administer extreme amounts of pressure. And so Allie figured she'd give him a demonstration of such a thing, proceeding to bite down directly over his knuckles, not letting go when he squirmed and tried to get away._

" _You fucking bitch!" He kept trying to yank back and Allie's mouth only followed, then she began feeling the tingle of his fear enter her mind and body. She wanted so bad to end him right there and it was hard to hold back._

 _She was too busy on thinking about her bloodlust to realize a fist was racing towards her cheek until it was way too late. Obviously Allie didn't have enough of a sense to block it and was taken down by the wild punch, falling to the ground from the pain and quickness of the blow._

 _The monitor didn't hesitate and went down just as quick, throwing his pants down the rest of the way as he leaned over the girl, hungry for her and uncaring of who else saw. He began putting himself into Allie, hearing as she made a sound of despair from beneath him-_

 _CRACK!_

 _The water looked pink, then red. Allie felt hands on her upper arms and feared that it was someone else joining in on her torture._

" _No, please," she said loudly despite the pain it brought her to talk due to the punch's bruise. The hands weren't as rough as they were before, however. Nor was the voice._

" _Allison, stop," the new person commanded when she began to squirm away from the their grasp. Allie was beginning to feel herself fade from the scene around them, vision edging into darkness as she was turned over by whoever was with her then. "Take her back to the cell, I'll clean up this scum's mess."_

 _She recognized him then as Stryker once he stood up straight, but for some reason in her state of delusion and near to blacking out, all she could see was Peter._

 _And Allie just couldn't help herself, beginning to cry because she had missed him so, so much. "No, no! Please don't go," she weeped, grabbing his hand before he walked away and she wouldn't be able to savor the short mirage before her._

 _Stryker made a face but knelt down with the demand of the young mutant, feeling a strange sense of security wash over him as he looked at her, naked and afraid on the ground._

" _I don't want to lose you again… not again, please," she continued to plead quietly, her speech slurring the more she held onto him. William only raised a brow and looked over his shoulder at other guard, finding the man's expression in a state of bewilderment. Then Stryker looked back down at Allie, sighing._

" _Let's get you dressed," he muttered, reaching down to help the mutant up from the ground._

 _Eventually Stryker managed to get the girl back to her cell in one piece, having to practically hold and help her every step of the way down the corridor. When he opened the door, William spent little time in getting her onto the bleak cot._

 _Then as he began to leave, Allie started up in her crying once more, having some hopeless look in her eyes as she stared upon him. "Don't leave me again, please."_

 _Stryker shook his head, knowing that she couldn't have been thinking that she was speaking to him. "Go to sleep."_

 _But she heard, "I'll be seeing you soon, Allie." Then the boy left her once again, but with something to hold on to._

Tears streamed down Lennie's face as he woke from the memory.


End file.
